Just over three months after he suffered a devastating ankle injury, San Francisco 49ers linebacker Fred Warner returned to practice on Tuesday. Wednesday, he even said he wouldn’t rule himself out for Saturday’s divisional round game against the Seattle Seahawks.
Thursday, though, coach Kyle Shanahan that Warner will not play — not because of any setback, but simply because he isn’t ready to return to game action. Shanahan said he’s confident that Warner has put himself in position to play in the NFC Championship Game should the 49ers beat Seattle but added, “We’ll see if it works out.”
Such a speedy recovery is a remarkable feat for Warner, who was initially deemed out for the season when he broke and dislocated his ankle in Week 6 against the Bucs. Warner underwent surgery after teammate Ji’Ayir Brown rolled up on his leg and twisted his ankle at an awkward angle.
“We’re taking it day by day,” Warner said Wednesday when asked if he anticipated playing this weekend. “I think they said last week they weren’t going to open my [practice] window, and then my window is now open. So we’re just taking it day by day.”
Warner was part of the wave of injuries that devastated the 49ers early in the year. Defensive end Nick Bosa was lost for the season due to a torn ACL he suffered in Week 3, and key contributors including quarterback Brock Purdy and Ricky Pearsall also missed time. Star tight end George Kittle saw his campaign come to a close in the Wild Card round when he tore an Achilles tendon.
Despite the poor injury luck, San Francisco stands just two wins away from the Super Bowl.
The 49ers surrendered a modest 19 points to the Philadelphia Eagles in the Wild Card round and gave up just 13 points to the Seahawks in the season finale, impressive feats after struggling for much of the season following the Warner injury.
“I feel amazing,” Warner said. “Just so grateful, blessed to be back. I think, obviously, when all this happened, I didn’t really think about the possibility of returning in-season. But the way things progressed and being able to have this opportunity to be back with my teammates, have a chance at helping them win this week and so on and so forth, that’s my only goal moving forward.”
While the injury dashed his chances of securing first-team All-Pro honors for the fourth consecutive year and fifth time in six seasons, Warner has a chance to rewrite an otherwise lost season if the 49ers can win one more game. He is one of the best linebackers in the NFL and would contribute immense amounts of leadership and playmaking ability to the middle of the defense if.
“Fred’s the ultimate energy-giver, so just having him out there is awesome,” defensive coordinator Robert Saleh said Wednesday. “Yesterday was a little bit more tempo down, but today obviously with higher tempo it’ll be fun to get him out there, see him running around.”
Warner had not missed a game in his career prior to the injury. If he does not play again this year, he will finish with a career-low 51 tackles, two tackles for loss and three passes defended.