The injuries are starting to pile up for the 49ers’ offense.
San Francisco head coach Kyle Shanahan told reporters on Monday that star wide receiver Deebo Samuel will miss “a couple” of weeks with a calf strain sustained in Sunday’s loss to the Vikings.
Samuel has 13 catches for 164 yards, plus a rushing touchdown, this season.
The 49ers play at the Rams on Sunday and then host the Patriots in Week 4.
Over the weekend, the 49ers put running back Christian McCaffrey, who is suffering from calf tightness and Achilles tendinitis, on injured reserve.
McCaffrey will miss four games, with one of those being the Minnesota loss.
“It’s something we’re considering now,” Shanahan told reporters on Friday before the official injured reserve designation for McCaffrey. “[Thursday] was his worst day. It’s on and off, but with yesterday having the most pain. It’s something we’re going to be discussing together in the next 24 hours.”
Before he was placed on injured reserve, McCaffrey cited the long game when discussing missing San Francisco’s season opener, a win over the Jets last Monday night.
“My mindset every week is I’m going to play,” McCaffrey said last Wednesday. “There’s been weeks where I’ll go the full week, not even feeling good enough to do the walk-through, and then I wake up and the body’s capable of a lot of cool things. Mentally, I’m always prepared to play, and then I woke up and it was a group decision, a very tough one.
“I hate not playing, but I look at it as a chess move and something that hopefully you can benefit from the rest of the season.”