Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images

SANTA CLARA – The 49ers’ offseason is not on short supply of daily injury updates and minor roster shifts. Following another handful of injuries in Saturday’s preseason opener, those constant roster re-evaluations will continue.

Injury Updates

Head coach Kyle Shanahan provided injury updates on the following players, who, aside from Jimmie Ward, were either injured or avoided serious injuries on Saturday:

• Elijah Lee, LB: Had surgery on his thumb, is out for about two weeks; unclear if he’ll play again in the preseason
• Shon Coleman, OT: Will go on injured reserve on Monday; his surgically-repaired fractured fibula and dislocated ankle will likely sideline him for the year
• D.J. Jones, DT: Suffered a knee sprain and is “week-to-week”
• Raheem Mostert, RB: In concussion protocol after suffering an early concussion on Saturday
• Trent Taylor, WR: Same timeline as Saturday with a Jones fracture in his pinky toe, had surgery on Friday
• Marcell Harris, S: Had a “stinger” (concussion scare) on Saturday, but came back fine
• Najee Toran, G: Received X-rays on his hand after exiting Saturday’s game, X-rays came back clean
• Jimmie Ward, S: Will receive X-rays to see if he can come off the physically unable to perform (PUP) list this week

To read yesterday’s injury update, click here.

Finding a Shon Coleman replacement, with offensive line that was “not good enough”

Coleman’s injury left a backup offensive line with Willie Beavers on the left and Justin Skule on the right. Beavers committed three holding penalties (two of which were back-to-back) and Skule committed one. Another four penalties were committed by the offensive line on Saturday night (two by Christian DiLauro – a hold and false start, a hold by Ross Reynolds, and an illegal shift). As Shanahan admitted, it was a poor performance.

“You’ve got to play better,” Shanahan said. “Guys sometimes hold when they get beat, and when you get beat, you can’t hold. You have to let it go so you don’t lose 10 yards. Sometimes, you have to get into better position where you aren’t beat so you don’t have to hold. I thought there were a few times where they were a little picky with the calls, but we got way too many of them, and there were a bunch of reoccurring guys who had it, and they have to make sure they do better, because it wasn’t good enough and when you don’t move your feet well, they’re going to beat you, and holding the guy is not an option.”

The 49ers now need another tackle, and at least one option is Gary Gilliam, who was a backup swing tackle for the team each of the last two seasons. Shanahan said he liked Gilliam, although he didn’t get any action for the 49ers, and while he had yet to discuss the potential additions with general manager John Lynch, a move will likely be made on Monday, when the team works out some offensive linemen.

Mullens vs. Beathard

C.J. Beathard will play before Nick Mullens in the second preseason game against the Denver Broncos, something that Shanahan confirmed after Saturday’s contest. He said both quarterbacks (Mullens, 11-for-17, 1 TD, 1 INT and Beathard, 13-for-17, 1 TD, 1 INT) were generally good, but that Mullens had a worse interception than Beathard (he initially implied Beathard’s interception was his own fault, not on Jalen Hurd, but changed his analysis after watching film).

“I thought both of them played a pretty good game, I told you guys last night I didn’t like the turnovers at all,” Shanahan said. “Nick’s was a little bit worse, just after watching the tape, he had a backside linebacker was out of position, really busted his coverage. Didn’t account for him and didn’t see him. C.J. saw his, and he let an aggressive throw go on 3rd-and-7, and when you watch the tape, that’s something you expect a receiver [Hurd] to step in front of and Jalen hesitated a little bit and he could have helped him out, so definitely wasn’t good, but not quite as bad as I thought the pick was originally. Besides that, I thought they both did a decent job when they were under duress. They did a pretty good job handling the entire offense under some tough circumstances.”

He also credited Beathard for doing “a hell of a job” on his first snap, in which he was sacked, for, “only losing two yards on it, when most people would have lost about six.”

Final notes:

• Shanahan said he anticipates that both Deebo Samuel and Jalen Hurd will get some first team reps with Jimmy Garoppolo in the second preseason game, as has been the case in camp, although he said he hasn’t thought about the starting unit for that game, and will decide after the team has a pair of joint practices with the Broncos.
• Damontre Moore received plaudits for a solid game in which he recovered a fumble (he and Azeez Al-Shaair fell on it, and Al-Shaair took it away from him and was credited as coming up with it by ESPN), pressured the quarterback frequently, securing 3 QB hits, and had 4 tackles (3 solo). Shanahan sees more time coming his way, saying, “Damontre’s had a good camp and he had a good game last night, being able to come up with that fumble recovery, put some pressure on the quarterback and took advantage of the opportunity, and he should get more as it goes, too.”
• Shanahan is still waiting on one of the wide receivers to make his decision for him, saying that everyone, from the rookies through the veterans, made mistakes and had good moments on Saturday:

“We have a bunch of guys that can play, but I want someone to make the decision easy for us. I want someone to take the job and make it to where it’s extremely obvious. We haven’t had that yet. We have a bunch of young guys who are extremely hungry and they are going for it, and we have some other guys who have been here who have also been that way, but I think guys are very evenly-matched right now and I want someone to step it up. 

The rookies, they made some good plays last night, but they also weren’t very consistent either. There’s lots of parts about their game that they have to clean up, and I thought it was very similar in the veterans, too. You expect the veterans to be out there making some plays like they did a few times, but they also made mistakes, so I thought the whole group played decent, but we need to be a lot sharper all around.”