SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- With Shaun Draughn's season over and rookie Mike Davis now eligible to play in the San Francisco 49ers' season finale against the St. Louis Rams on Sunday after spending time on the short-term injured reserve, it seems like Davis will be activated this week.
Well...
"My mindset is to go through everything like I'm going to play," Davis said Wednesday. "But everything is in the trainers' hands."
As in, the trainers had yet to clear him for game action.
It was at the Rams on Nov. 1 when Davis broke his left hand, an injury that required the insertion of a plate and four screws, he said. And while Davis remembers the late second-quarter play on which he was hurt -- tackled out of bounds by Janoris Jenkins after picking up 3 yards on a pass play from Colin Kaepernick while Akeem Ayers was flagged for unnecessary roughness -- he does not recall if his hand hit a helmet or was crunched under the pile on the Edward Jones Dome's artificial turf.
But he knew he was hurt. Bad.
Then is the expectation he will be active Sunday for a weakened running back corps that currently only features Kendall Gaskins, Jarryd Hayne and DuJuan Harris?
"I'd like him to be," said coach Jim Tomsula. "But we'll find out exactly where we're at. But yeah, I'd like him to be."
Tomsula did say that Davis, who was drafted in the fourth round out of South Carolina, would be getting reps with the first-teamers this week.
Plus, Davis has work to do on his stat sheet. He is averaging less than one yard per carry as a rookie, going for 24 yards on 25 attempts.
Ten different backs have carried the ball for the Niners this season -- Carlos Hyde, Draughn, DuJuan Harris, Hayne, Gaskins, Reggie Bush, Davis, Travaris Cadet, Bruce Miller and Pierre Thomas.
"It's been frustrating not being out there and helping my team," he said. "It's been real hard."
