There won’t be a Jason Verrett return for the 49ers in Atlanta. Head coach Kyle Shanahan on Friday told reporters Verrett experienced some pain in his surgically-repaired knee during the week, which led the team to remove him from practice as he tries to work his way back off the PUP list.
The good news is it sounds like the plan is for Verrett to return to practice ahead of Week 7.
“No, he just had some soreness and once he had some soreness, we wanted to settle it down and make sure that it was just soreness and nothing worse,” Shanahan said. “So hopefully that’ll leave over these next couple days, and we’ll hit it up again on Wednesday next week.”
Next week is a big one for Verrett and the 49ers. They opened his three-week practice window ahead of Week 5. After three weeks of practice they’ll have to make a decision on whether to activate Verrett or place him on season-ending IR.
The team could theoretically add him to the roster, have him work his way back in practice and make him a healthy scratch each week until he’s read, and that may be the route they go if they determine he’s not ready to return for next week’s game against the Chiefs.
While the club isn’t necessarily relying on Verrett, Emmanuel Moseley’s ACL tear makes him a potentially valuable piece of their secondary as the club nears the halfway point of the season. That’s why it’s not a huge surprise to see them exercising caution with a player who has dealt with as many injuries as Verrett has.
His status will be worth monitoring heading into Week 7, and we’ll get an answer on the direction of his health when they either activate him or end his season late next week.
