San Francisco 49ers Tarell Brown suffered a 4-6 week injury
San Francisco 49ers cornerback Tarell Brown (25) returns a fumble against the Houston Texans in the fourth quarter at Candlestick Park. The San Francisco 49ers defeated the Texans 34-3. Mandatory Credit: Cary Edmondson-USA TODAY Sports
San Francisco 49ers No. 1 corner Tarell Brown suffered a severe rib injury in the team’s Week 11 loss to the New Orleans Saints, and the injury’s description has become more significant as new information is revealed with each passing week. Brown has already missed two weeks with the injury, and he’s going to miss tomorrow’s huge rivalry game against the Seattle Seahawks with the rib injury. When Brown first suffered the injury, he was in quite a bit of pain and even had difficulty breathing, but the 49ers are not letting any information regarding the extent of Brown’s injury leak.
However, CSN Bay Area’s Matt Maiocco reports that Brown was allowed to divulge that his rib injury was initially diagnosed as a 4-6 week injury, meaning that it is possible Brown won’t play for the remainder of the regular season. At this point, a best-case scenario has Brown returning to the 49ers next week against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. But Brown’s injury status remains extremely cloudy since we don’t know the exact nature of his injury, but we do know that the 49ers have acted very conservatively with injuries to other players this season. We also know that the 49ers trust Tramaine Brock, who starts in Brown’s place, a great deal, as they have already extended the solid CB this year. With that in mind, the 49ers could bring along Brown very slowly, even if having the No. 1 corner healthy is key to a battle for the playoffs.
It’s a tough situation to get a read on, so all we can do is guess and hope. Tarell Brown stated that he suffered “internal injuries” (again, of an unknown variety) in that game against the Saints as a result of the rib injury, so this injury is certainly nothing to take lightly.