Head coach Kyle Shanahan plans to play a lot more of his starters in preseason Week 2 when the San Francisco 49ers visit the Las Vegas Raiders on Saturday, Aug. 16.
It's not just because Shanahan wants to give a lot of the first-teamers some in-game reps with the regular season inching closer.
After sitting almost every would-be starter during the Niners' exhibition opener last weekend against the Denver Broncos, Shanahan's decision to play more of his first-team unit against Vegas is one that's almost essentially made up for him.
And it's not exactly for good reason.
Injuries are forcing Kyle Shanahan to play many of his starters vs. Raiders
Speaking to reporters after San Francisco held joint practices with Las Vegas, Shanahan expanded on the likelihood of his first-team group seeing much more of the field as opposed to last week's preseason bout:
"I haven’t decided anything for sure yet. We’ll watch this tape, I planned on getting these starters going. There might be a couple guys I rest, but there’s not a lot of, especially on the defense, healthy starters as it is."
Shanahan's response was to a question about whether or not quarterback Brock Purdy would play, and it's notable to point out QB1 didn't take the field versus Denver.
But, the injuries the 49ers have dealt with over the course of training camp and early in the preseason have made a serious impact, cutting into Shanahan's depth and eliminating would-be options for filling out 90-man depth charts across the board.
To that point, Shanahan described how those setbacks are impacting the need to give the ones some field time on Saturday, followed by second- and third-string units getting more time than normal:
"Well, the fact that so many guys are hurt, it kind of takes the decision process out for me. I think there are three healthy starters on defense right now, so I have to decide on those three guys. But it does put a lot more pressure on the threes. The twos become the ones, the threes become the twos, and we don’t really have threes right now."
Putting it bluntly, Shanahan and the Niners don't have enough bodies to field a normal preseason roster for game day.
It's not exactly ideal, especially considering San Francisco can't exactly afford serious injuries to key players at important positions, and the squad is already thin enough down the depth chart, too, especially at positions like wide receiver, the offensive line and at running back.
But, as the coach pointed out, there's little other choice but to let many of his starters play.
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