When 49ers players reported to training camp in Santa Clara on Tuesday,
Two defensive standouts were among those placed on the physically-unable-to-perform list.
Following serious injuries they suffered during the previous season, linebacker Dre Greenlaw and safety Talanoa Hufanga will undergo physical treatment until their doctors give the all-clear to resume their respective sports.
Last week, the 49ers added rookie wide out Ricky Pearsall (hamstring) to their list of non-football injuries. According to general manager John Lynch, he got hurt while exercising. By the following week, the team anticipates Pearsall to be cleared for practice.
Drake Jackson, a defensive end who underwent knee surgery last season, was also placed on PUP. Anytime during camp, players who are added to the PUP list may be taken off of it. A player is required to miss at least the first four games of the regular season if he begins on PUP.
When Greenlaw leaped forward to take the field for a defensive series during the first half of the Super Bowl, he tore his left Achilles. Surgery was performed on him four days later. When the 49ers play the New York Jets in their season opener on Monday, September 9, Greenlaw is not anticipated to be ready.
“I’m going to give it my all every game when I feel like I can go out there and really contribute,” Greenlaw said in an interview with NBC Sports Bay Area in May. “I’m not sure if there will be two, three, five, six, eight, or ten games.
But I’m simply going to play every game like it’s the Super Bowl when I do get the chance. Following a season in which he was named an AP All-Pro, Hufanga suffered a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee during the 49ers’ victory over Tampa Bay at Levi’s Stadium on November 19.
When Hufanga spoke with media in June, he had planned to enter training camp on the PUP list.”Obviously, it’s a give or take at any time, but the goal is to be ready by Week 1,” Hufanga declared.
“Aiming to be smart with it, we’ve had plenty of discussions with the training staff and putting me in the best possible situation to succeed for myself and then try to help the team as well.” “The goal is to be in training camp, not the very beginning, but to ramp me up correctly so it’s not just a throw you out to the wolves and ‘good luck.'”