Several Key 49ers Players to Miss Time due to Injury

An old friend of the 49ers has shown its ugly head for the first time this season.

The injury bug has started to creep up on the 49ers with several key players expected to miss time. The most notable one is wide receiver Ray-Ray McCloud who suffered a broken wrist. He's expected to be out for roughly eight weeks, which will force him to miss at least a couple of regular season games.

“Ray-Ray broke his wrist last practice. It'll be some time," said Kyle Shanahan. "We won't know for sure until they go to surgery. They always say around eight weeks at that time. Could be a little less. Hopefully it is. We'll see. I think he's getting surgery Friday.”

With McCloud out, the 49ers will likely be in the market for a punt returner. Cornerback D'Shawn Jamison has been the one reportedly handling those duties behind McCloud, but I would surmise that the 49ers will still look at outside sources. This also means that opportunities should arise more for Danny Gray.

As for the other injuries, George Kittle has an abductor injury and will miss at least a week of time. Dre Greenlaw suffered a hamstring injury early in Thursday's joint practice with the Raiders. Drake Jackson is also dealing with a hamstring injury he sustained last week.

“Kittle had an adductor strain last week, so he won't be able to go this whole week. Dre [Greenlaw] started out practice and tweaked his hamstring. We'll have to look at that now, but I'm sure he'll be out this week, also.” Shanahan said.

Aside from McCloud, none of these players suffered anything serious, so the 49ers are holding them out as a precaution. Still, anytime the injury bug shows its ugly head with the 49ers, you can't help but always think how unfortunate it is with them. Better to get these light injuries out of the way now than to have them in the regular season that forces them to miss games.