The 49ers on Friday made a small change to their 90-man roster. They might need to make another one soon.
San Francisco’s interior offensive line depth was struggling with injuries to multiple players. Left guard Aaron Banks is working through back spasms. Spencer Burford, a contender for the right guard job, is also out with a hand injury. Veteran Jon Feliciano was back in action Friday. He was eased into work after missing time with a knee injury.
That spurred the 49ers to sign veteran Pat Elflein. They waived undrafted rookie Briason Mays in a corresponding move. Elflein, 30, has spent time with the Minnesota Vikings, New York Jets and Carolina Panthers. In six seasons he has 64 starts in 65 games with versatility to play anywhere on the offensive interior.
Unfortunately for San Francisco, Elflein didn’t even make it through a full practice. He left Friday’s session during individual drills. Head coach Kyle Shanahan after practice said the 30-year-old pulled his calf.
This injury situation doesn’t qualify as a ‘disaster’ given where the calendar is. Early August bumps and bruises give the club plenty of runway to get key starters and reserves healthy for the regular season. That’s the goal for the 49ers in training camp.
However, they’re simply struggling to find bodies to take reps on the interior offensive line spots during camp. Depth on the 90-man roster matters because they can’t have someone like Nick Zakelj taking every practice rep. That’s not a realistic workload on the training camp schedule. Feliciano’s return should help, but Elflein going down puts them in a tough spot again.
It’s unclear whether the 49ers will make more changes to bring in more bodies to take practice reps on the interior. Given the state of the roster it makes sense that they’d do so. Burford isn’t liable to return any time soon.
In a small bit of good news, Banks isn’t supposed to miss much time with his back spasms according to Shanahan. The 49ers would like to have him healthy just because he’s a starter for them, but having him to take practice reps will matter too as long as their interior OL remains banged up.
