The 49ers’ handling of De’Zhaun Stribling’s ankle injury has put their training staff back under the microscope.
Stribling suffered a deltoid sprain in his ankle early in the 49ers’ win over the Rams, then limped to the blue injury tent. After being examined for minutes by vice president of player health and performance Dustin Perry and team physician Timothy McAdams, he was cleared to return to the game.
That decision lasted one play.
On his first snap back, Stribling made a route break, went down grabbing at the ankle and appeared to worsen the injury. This time, he could not walk off under his own power.
The 49ers had to put him on a cart and take him to the locker room. He is now expected to miss at least the next four weeks, does not need surgery and is seeking additional opinions.
The problem for the 49ers is that this is not an isolated case. Brock Purdy dealt with a turf toe injury in Week 1 last year, and instead of placing him on IR until he was fully healed, the 49ers brought him back for Week 4 against the Jaguars. He was not ready, played poorly, and reinjured the toe before missing the next six weeks.
Ricky Pearsall followed a similar path. He had a PCL injury in Week 4 of last season, but the 49ers kept him off IR because they believed he would be back in fewer than four weeks.
He wound up missing six games, returned before he was fully recovered, and later reinjured the knee against the Titans. The team also advised Pearsall against surgery, believing the PCL would heal on its own.
That proved wrong, and he eventually had to shut it down for the season and undergo the reconstructive surgery he likely should have had last year.
That history makes Stribling’s case look familiar. The 49ers clearly want him back quickly because they need him, and that could push them toward another accelerated recovery plan before surgery becomes the final option.
The larger question is how many more times the same pattern has to repeat before the organization changes its training staff. With the season already underway, major changes now would be difficult. But if the 49ers go through another year of players coming back too soon and getting hurt again, the blame will be hard to miss.
Be careful, De'Zhaun. Advocate for yourself. Don't let them rush you back.
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For a franchise always looking to widen its reach, that kind of approach matters. It helped the 49ers build more support in Australia while leaving the Rams to wonder whether they had passed on a rare opportunity to grow a fanbase in a market still figuring out which NFL team to adopt. [Read more 🡒]