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Kwon Alexander has High-Ankle Sprain, Richard Sherman has Calf-Injury Setback

Say goodbye to Kwon Alexander for a while, and forget about seeing Richard Sherman on the field any time soon.

Say goodbye to Kwon Alexander for a while, and forget about seeing Richard Sherman on the field any time soon.

Alexander suffered a high-ankle sprain Sunday during the 49ers 43-17 loss to the Miami Dolphins, and Sherman suffered a setback with his calf injury and will need to spend additional time on Injured Reserve.

While Alexander is out, Dre Greenlaw will replace him as the weakside linebacker. Alexander may or may not go to IR -- the 49ers don’t know the severity of his high-ankle sprain yet. “It could be a minor one, whatever that means,” head coach Kyle Shanahan said Monday. “If it was an automatic high-ankle sprain, I would be talking about IR, but they told me to hold on that because they think it possibly could be a minor one. They don’t know. They have to do more work today on it and we’ll have an answer on Wednesday.”

It’s unclear when exactly Alexander injured his ankle against the Dolphins.

Sherman injured his calf Week 1 against the Cardinals and has not played since. The 49ers originally hoped he would return from IR after three weeks.

“We were hoping to get him back this week,” Shanahan said. “Some setbacks last week. The healing hasn’t gone the way we were hoping. We’re going to try a few different procedures this week. I’m not counting on him this week. We’ll see how that goes with the new stuff we’re going to try.”

What kind of new stuff?

“He’s going to get some shots he thinks can help in his leg. I’m not sure the names of the shots, but no surgeries or anything. Just different shots to see if they can take the inflammation out.”

And if those shots don’t work, Sherman might never return.

But it seems cornerback Emmanuel Moseley might play next week against the Los Angeles Rams. Moseley missed the past two games with a concussion.

“He’s still in the protocol,” Shanahan said. “But I’m getting a lot more optimistic.”