49ers Defensive End Nick Bosa Hasn't Practiced in Four Weeks

Tick tock.

IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

SANTA CLARA -- The first thing Kyle Shanahan was asked at his press conference on Monday was about Nick Bosa. Will he practice this week? Shanahan said yes. An hour later, Bosa was nowhere to be found at practice. Not on the field, not next to it with the trainers and the other injured players. Just absent.

Keep in mind, Trent Williams was practicing, as was Christian McCaffrey and George Kittle. They didn't have veteran days off. Bosa did, or his knee tendinitis hasn't gone away yet. Remember, he hasn't practiced in four weeks. In addition, Mike Evans wasn't practicing, but he was rehabbing with the trainers, unlike Bosa.

Here's what Shanahan said about Bosa when asked about him before Monday's practice: "We don't want (him) to go three days in a row. So we're going to do a little on some of these days and more on one. It's a little different now. We usually have these three practices, then we get three days off, and then we kind of settle everything that bonus Monday of the week. We already had our three days off because of our travel deal. And now we kind of have these three bonus practices, and then we'll get on our plane and go."

So, the plan could be to sit Bosa on Monday and then have him practice on Tuesday and Wednesday, although Shanahan said he'd like Bosa to do a little bit on his light day, and today he didn't even show up.

Good for Bosa. It hasn't even been nine months since he suffered the third ACL tear of his life. He needs to be extremely cautious with his body. If the 49ers pressure him to fly to Australia and play in the season opener with the Rams before he's ready, he should refuse. The 49ers have a bad history of rushing players back from injury and exposing them to increased risk of reinjury. See: Brock Purdy and Ricky Pearsall last season. If they do the same to Bosa is the season opener and lose him for the season again, they're screwed.

Unfortunately for the 49ers, if they play the Rams without Bosa and Mykel Williams, they probably will lose, so you can understand why they're hoping Bosa will play. But it's just one game. The 49ers have to be smart.

I'm guessing the 49ers simply don't want the Rams to know what they already know -- Bosa isn't ready to play football yet. I'm guessing he'll stay home and make his season debut in Week 2.