49ers ravaged by injuries early in training camp: NFC contender barely survives first week of practice

The San Francisco 49ers have been in training camp for just over a week now and the injuries are already piling up. The 49ers were one of the most injured teams in the NFL last season and based on how things are going early in camp, they might once again be a threat to earn that unwanted title. 

The 49es held their first practice of camp on July 26, and in the nine days since then, it's been total carnage. The team had a total of 14 players who missed practice on Monday, which is 15.5% of their 90-man roster. 

Let's take a look at how just how bad things have gotten for the 49ers over the past week. 

Injuries at receiver

The 49ers signed Deebo Samuel over the weekend, which ended up being a good thing, because they need all the depth they can get at receiver. Here are the biggest injuries at the postition from the past few days: 

• Ricky Pearsall (knee) 
• Mike Evans (quad)
• Christian Kirk (calf)
• De'Zhaun Stribling (hamstring)

Pearsall's injury is the most notable and that's because he's out for the season. The former first-round pick missed eight games last year due to an issue with his PCL. The 49ers were hoping that the knee injury would heal during the offseason, but that didn't happen. Pearsall did participate in the first three practices of training camp, but his knee started to swell up. The 49ers decided on Saturday that the knee probably wouldn't be able to heal on its own, so the decision was made for Pearsall to have surgery, which will knock him out for the season. 

The injury to Evans isn't serious, but it is mildly concerning. The 49ers gave Evans a three-year, $42 million contract this offseason, but if there was one question mark with Evans, it was his durability. He turns 33 on Aug. 21 and he's coming off a season where he missed nine games due to injury. Evans sat out Monday's practice, which isn't a huge deal, but if the injury lingers, that could pose a problem for San Francisco. 

Kirk was also a free agent addition and things got off to a rocky start for the veteran receiver. Kirk injured his calf during the first practice of training camp on July 26 and hasn't return to practice, but he did do some running on the side during Monday's session, so he appears to be on the mend. 

On Stribling's end, the rookie receiver is dealing with hamstring tightness that knocked him out of practice on Saturday. Stribling was at Monday's practice, but he wasn't suited up. Instead, he was testing his hamstring with some sprints. 

The 49ers will be hoping that Evans, Stribling and Kirk all heal quickly, but all three injuries are in spots where the injury can sometimes linger, so it will be interesting to see what happens there. 

Injuries at running back

The 49ers are so beat up at running back that they went out and signed Khalil Herbert on Sunday. Here are the key injuries at running back: 

• RB Jordan James (rib)
• RB Kaelon Black (adductor)
• RB Isaac Guerendo (pectoral)

James fractured his rib in a friendly-fire situation that involved linebacker Fred Warner. The 49ers' star linebacker was trying to punch the ball out during a practice on July 27 and apparently he hit James so hard that he broke the running back's rib. 

James' injury could have set up more training camp carries for rookie Kaelon Black, but he's also injured. The 2026 third-round pick suffered an adductor injury that kept him out of Monday's practice, and if it's serious, it could keep him out for a few weeks. 

As for Guerendo, his injury didn't happen at training camp: He tore his pectoral while lifting weights during the offseason and is currently on the physically unable to perform (PUP) list. 

Injuries on defense

The 49ers' defense got decimated by injuries last season, and so far, things aren't going much better this year. Here's a look at a few players who have already missed at least one practice due to injury this year: 

• S Malik Mustapha (hamstring)
• DE Keion White (adductor)
• DE Cameron Sample (knee)

Mustapha, who started 10 games at safety for the 49ers last season, has already missed a week of training camp. He injured his hamstring on July 27 and that injury has lingered into August with the safety missing the 49ers' practice on Monday. 

On White's end, he injured his adductor on Saturday and although it doesn't appear to be serious, that's another injury that can linger. As for Sample, he injured his knee at some point last week and that injury kept him out of practice on both Saturday and Monday. 

The 49ers will also be likely be missing offensive lineman Vederian Lowe for an extended time after he suffered a high-ankle sprain last week. 

On top of all this, Kyle Shanahan hasn't been running the team in training camp due to injuries that he sustained in a car crash on July 14. Shananhan has been on the field for almost every practice, but he's letting assistant coach Chris Foerster run the show along with offensive coordinator Klay Kubiak and defensive coordinator Raheem Morris. 

If you're wondering how bad things got last year, just consider this: Out of the 14 playoffs teams from 2025, the 49ers lost more key players to injury than any other team and it wasn't even close. 

As you can see, no other team came close to San Francisco's number. The Chargers and Packers were the only other teams that had more than 30. To put the 49ers' number in perspective, the Broncos and Jaguars tied for the fewest games missed in this category with just three. 

Earlier this year, there was a theory going around that all the 49ers' injuries were happening because they practice close to a massive electrical substation and although there's been no correlation found yet, the 49ers might want to think about moving all of their future practices as far away as possible from the substation, just to be safe.