SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- Whenever San Francisco 49ers coach Chip Kelly has been asked about the rash of injuries that have plagued his team this season, he quickly points out that other teams around the league are dealing with the same things.
"I think a lot of teams are doing that right now," Kelly said. "I don’t know what the numbers are within the league, but it just seems that there’s a lot of that going on right now. It’s part of the nature when you only can dress 46 guys, have 53 on the roster and 46 guys that when you do sustain injuries you’re going to have to go try to get players either from your practice squad or other player’s practice squads to even out your roster. Part of being really good in this league is staying healthy and when you can stay healthy and you’re playing with your frontline guys then you’ve got a shot. If not, everybody, no matter where you are, I don’t think there’s a team in the league right now that says, ‘Hey we’re good. We haven’t sustained any injuries.’ Everybody’s sustained something to some extent. You just have to be able to deal with them. That’s just the nature of what we’re playing with."
Kelly is right, injuries are not exclusive to the 49ers and they aren't even the most banged-up team in the league. But they are pretty close. As of Wednesday, the 49ers have had 18 players who are either on injured reserve or have spent time on the list before being released with a settlement. According to Spotrac, that means the 49ers have dealt with the seventh-most attrition in the NFL this season.
Chicago and San Diego, for example, have each had 22 players that fall into that category this season. The Bears have a whopping $32.55 million worth of their salary cap on injured reserve.
It's no coincidence that the five healthiest teams in terms of fewest players on injured reserve -- Oakland, Denver, Tennessee, New England and Atlanta -- all have winning records and are in the playoff mix.
For the 49ers, the injury issues haven't so much been about the total amount as the concentration of where those injuries are occurring. Consider inside linebacker for example. After losing Nick Bellore to an elbow injury against Atlanta last week, the 49ers found themselves using the likes of converted safety Vinnie Sunseri and outside linebacker Ahmad Brooks in the middle. Safety Antoine Bethea even volunteered to step into the middle.
In addition to Bellore, the 49ers have lost NaVorro Bowman (Achilles), Ray-Ray Armstrong (chest) and Shayne Skov (knee) for the season. It made Gerald Hodges' deactivation for violation of team rules even worse as he left his teammates and coaches hanging after Bellore's injury.
For the defense, it's not just inside linebacker that's been a problem. Starters such as defensive lineman Arik Armstead (shoulder) and safety Eric Reid (biceps) were expected to be key contributors.
"It’s drastically affected what we wanted," defensive coordinator Jim O'Neil said. "We’ve pretty much changed our whole identity in the run game from probably the first quarter of the season to what we are now. We’ve gone from more of a two-back team where your linebackers are going to play off the front three guys to more of a single-gap team because we’ve tried to fit it on what we have and what our guys do the best. So, everybody does deal with injuries.
"We’ve been decimated obviously at the inside backer position, which is difficult because the inside backer position is the bridge from the D-Line to the secondary and they’re so actively involved in everything that takes place in the run game, and they’re so actively involved with everything that takes place in the pass game, and they’re the guys that run everything. It starts every play with those guys, because they’re the ones commanding the huddle and they’re the ones delivering the play call and there’s so many reps that get involved in that. That’s the one position where it’s really hard to just plug and play. You can hide guys on other parts of the defense, but inside backer is tough."
The 49ers haven't been able to hide it, and the result is a defense that ranks near the bottom of the league in many major categories. In addition, the group has played more snaps (980) than any other defense, so it's not hard to see how things have gotten so bad.
"The injuries are what they are," O'Neil said. "You’re not going to use them as an excuse, but I do think that our coaching staff has done a really good job developing some of the backup guys, getting guys off the street and getting them ready to play. We have a starting defensive lineman right now who we took off the street four weeks ago in Chris Jones, who’s done an unbelievable job for us. So, it’s part of the game when you have such small numbers, you’re going to have to fight through some of that stuff as the year goes on."
None of that is to say the 49ers would be good or even substantially better had they been healthier this season. But it does drive home the point that a roster with an already-thin margin for error will need plenty of reinforcements in the offseason.
