Great Comeback: 49ers’ Linebacker Corps Gets Boost: Greenlaw Nears…

San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan provided injury updates as the team heads into their bye week.

Running back Jordan Mason (shoulder) and wide receiver Deebo Samuel (rib/oblique strain) will be evaluated after the bye week. Mason aggravated the same shoulder.

Rookie cornerback Renardo Green is day-to-day with an ankle sprain, while wide receiver Chris Conley’s hamstring injury is a bit more serious as he’s week-to-week.

Green is coming off another stellar performance. He made PFF’s Week 8 team of the week. On the depth chart, Green has jumped veteran Isaac Yiadom as the 49ers’ third cornerback. He’s played 44 and 45 snaps in two games since Charvarius Ward has returned to the lineup.

Shanahan said, “Yes, I do,” when asked if we could expect Jauan Jennings to return after the bye.

The only other injury from Week 8 was to cornerback Charvarius Ward, who checked out alright. Shanahan said Mooney has been playing “his best ball these last two weeks.” Ward missed a drive with a tight groin but got it checked out and went back in without any issues.

Depending on how this week goes, Christian McCaffrey will return next week:

“It depends how this week goes. It’s been, he’s had no setbacks, so it looks like we’re on track. But we’re going to, he’s going to hit it hard this week while we’re gone and kind of simulate some practice stuff for himself. And as long as it all goes good, hopefully we’ll get him back in practice next week.”

Shanahan talked about how shutting McCaffrey down helped him build up slowly since they knew the timetable would be at least a month. Here’s Shanahan on how CMC’s workload might look once he’s back in the fold:

“No, the expectation is just see how he is when he gets back and then evaluate him as he goes. Of course, the hope is that everything just goes back to normal and is perfect; that’s what we’re all striving for. But you’ve got to play that out smartly and you’ve got to evaluate that each day. What we see with our own eyes, what he tells us, that’ll be something we constantly are working through.”

Linebacker Dre Greenlaw is “getting closer” and could be trending toward week-to-week after the bye week:

“No, we talk about a lot of stuff and he is working through it, but I hate to give a rough timeline for you guys because we’re not exactly sure of it. I think once we get back from this Bye week, I think he’s going to be about week-to-week deciding whether we should get him back into the practice deal or not. But we’ll see how this next week goes. We’ll see when we get back from the Bye week. I think once it gets past the Bye week then we’ll be looking each week on whether we should bring him back or not because it is getting closer.”

Give credit where it’s due, as De’Vondre Campbell played his best game with the necessary aggression to excel at linebacker against Dallas. Still, the Niners could use Greenlaw, especially if Dee Winters continues to get banged up.