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SANTA CLARA — The 49ers again don't have Trent Williams on the practice field to start the week, which does not bode well for the All-Pro’s return before the end of the 2024 NFL season.
"If he could get back to healthy, we’d play him,” coach Kyle Shanahan said on Wednesday. “But it’s not like that right now. It’s getting closer to being that way.”
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Williams, dealing with an ankle injury, could miss his fifth consecutive contest since the 49ers made the game-time decision to allow him to play in their Week 11 loss to the Seattle Seahawks. The left tackle was seen on the field with athletic trainers and medical staff before the game while simulating the movement he would have to perform during the contest.
Shanahan explained the challenge of weighing the decision to give Williams the green light to play against the long-term ramifications.
“Yeah, you always do,” Shanahan said. “Trent, with what we had, and what we are still trying to deal with, we felt safe putting him out there, that it couldn’t get worse, that it would just stay the same.”
The 49ers faced a similar decision with Nick Bosa as he recovered from a hip/oblique injury, which was shortly followed by a similar injury on the opposite side of his body.
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“With Nick, we felt good with his oblique,” Shanahan said. “But he ended up hurting the other one. It was a completely different injury. We always worry about that stuff and there’s a very fine line.”
Bosa missed three games before returning in Week 14 and will be limited in Wednesday’s practice session.
In positive news for the defense, Dre Greenlaw appears to be in good health after playing 30 snaps and registering eight total tackles -- three solo -- in the 49ers' Thursday night loss to the Los Angeles Rams.
Here is the 49ers' participation report for Wednesday's practice:
49ers
Did not participate
LT Trent Williams (ankle)
RB Isaac Guerendo (hamstring)
DT Maliek Collins (illness)
Limited
LB Dre Greenlaw (Achilles)
OL Jaylon Moore (hip)
DL Nick Bosa (hip/oblique)
S Malik Mustapha (chest)
OL NIck Zakelj (illness)
Dolphins
Did not participate
T Terron Armstead (knee)
DT Calais Campbell (rest)
WR D'Wayne Eskridge (knee)
LS Blake Ferguson (Illness)
WR Tyreek Hill (Wrist/Rest)
T Kendall Lamm (Back)
S Jordan Poyer (Rest)
WR Jaylen Waddle (Knee)
Limited
LB Bradley Chubb (Knee)
FB Alec Ingold (Ankle)
QB Tua Tagovailoa (Hip)