The San Francisco 49ers desperately need to change the team’s strength and conditioning staff if they want to prevent the trend of being the most injured team in the league.
The 49ers have had the most players appear on the injury report going into week six of the season with 72 different players compared to the next closest team which is the Dallas Cowboys with 58 different players according to the Big Lead website.
Kyle Shanahan needs to cut ties with the strength and conditioning staff,this current season is more than enough proof that there needs to be change.
The 49ers have lost two star players so far with defensive end Nick Bosa and linebacker Fred Warner sustaining season-ending injuries.
Bosa suffered a non-contact torn anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in week three of the season.
A torn ACL, is when one of the major ligaments in the knee responsible for stabilizing the joint is ruptured, according to Yale Medicine.
Warner then suffered a broken and dislocated ankle after being rolled up on by a teammate in week six, according to a report on the 49ers Website.
Football is a physical sport and lingering injuries are bound to happen, but it feels like the 49ers continue to rack up injuries faster than any other team in the league.
It’s important for a team to have a good strength and conditioning staff because of how physically demanding football is on the body, according to the Straps Athletics website.
Strengthening muscles, tendons and ligaments can help an athlete’s body withstand the physical stress of the sport, according to the same website.
Every big win the 49ers have, especially this season, a player tends to go down.
This past weekend, the 49ers defeated the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday Night Football, but their current best pass rusher Bryce Huff injured his hamstring and is expected to be out a few weeks, according to an ESPN article.
To be clear, this is nothing personal against 49ers Vice President of Player Health and Performance Dustin Perry, but a change needs to happen.
There’s too many players that suffer injuries throughout the season for this to be normal.
Under Perry, the 49ers have ranked in the top 10 for injury impact in six of the previous seven seasons and they were the most injured team in the 2024 season, according to a Niners Nation and Sporting News.
Perry has been with the 49ers since 2018 and is currently in his eighth season with the team.
Six of those seasons have been spent as the head coach of strength and conditioning, according to the 49ers website.
This is measured through adjusted games lost (AGL). It measures the impact of injuries on a team, such as players on injured reserve, players missing games, backups playing for injured starters and players not playing at 100% health, according to a Jan. 26 article Sage Journal.
Being in the top 10 in the NFL for injuries is ridiculous.
There’s so much talent that has been on the team, but aside from 2023 it feels impossible for all the players to be on the field at the same time without a player struggling with injuries.
All the blame shouldn’t be put on the strength and conditioning staff, but it makes me question how hard the 49ers are practicing when there’s so many injuries.
It is concerning how the staff and team doctors handle injuries, especially with players like quarterback Brock Purdy.
Purdy suffered a turf toe injury, and instead of taking the full time to recover from the injury, he returned after two weeks and it set his recovery back.
Turf toe injury is when the big toe ligaments, tendons, or soft tissue stretch or tear, according to the Cleveland Clinic website.
Any wrong movement with the toe can cause setbacks to recovery or increase the severity which could require surgery, according to the same website.
Purdy’s injury has been poorly managed and it’s uncertain when he’ll play again this season.
This mismanagement of the starting quarterbacks injury is an example of why the staff needs to change so this incident doesn’t happen again.
These injuries are playing a big factor in the team’s Super Bowl window because with the amount of talent on the roster, they can’t be utilized to their full potential if the players can’t stay on the field.
This prevents the team from performing at a high level and competing for a championship.
When the 49ers last played in the Super Bowl in 2023, they were one of the healthier teams according to a March 5, 2024 For The Numbers (FTN) article.
The 49ers haven’t won a Super Bowl since 1995.
They’ve had talented teams that could bring a Super Bowl trophy to the Bay Area, but injuries have played a factor in preventing this from happening.
