SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Cheryl Bosa has a specially-made No. 97 jersey that is half Chargers, half 49ers.
She still plans to wear it Sunday even though one of her pass-rushing sons, Chargers outside linebacker Joey Bosa, is recovering from a groin tear and won’t play in the game. Younger brother Nick Bosa, meanwhile, said he hung around the Bay Area and rested up during the bye week so he’d be recharged for the 49ers’ second half of the season.
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“I made sure all the little things that were ailing me went away,” he said Wednesday. “I think I did a really good job of that. Feeling really fresh.”
The situation is symbolic of the two squads. Four Chargers starters, including Bosa and All-Pro left tackle Rashawn Slater, are on injured reserve while several other prominent starters like wide receivers Keenan Allen (hamstring) and Mike Williams (ankle) missed practice Wednesday.
The 49ers, on the other hand, are as healthy as they’ve been all season. Receivers Deebo Samuel and Jauan Jennings practiced in full after both missed the Week 8 game against the Rams. Linebackers Dre Greenlaw and Azeez Al-Shaair were on the field, although Greenlaw was limited in the session. Running back Elijah Mitchell declared himself healthy and went through a full practice, and cornerback Jason Verrett seems ready for his first in-game action since tearing his ACL in Week 1 last season. If he does play, it would be against the team that drafted him with the No. 25 pick in 2014.
Jason Verrett led the 49ers’ vet DBs through these first-session drills for the first time that I have seen this season. Verrett looks healthy and his return appears imminent pic.twitter.com/LbGHOWKdi5
— David Lombardi (@LombardiHimself) November 9, 2022
Kyle Shanahan said the 49ers would consider a cornerback rotation — likely with now-starter Deommodore Lenoir — as a way of easing Verrett back onto the field. He said Verrett was “real close” to playing against the Rams and that the veteran spent most of the bye week at the team facility.
“I expect him to be further (along) this week,” Shanahan said.
Another sign that Verrett’s return is near: He’s continually turned down interview requests over the last month and a half, saying he’d talk to reporters once he’s back on the field. He’s scheduled to address the media Thursday.
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The exceptions to the 49ers’ getting-healthier theme are along the defensive line. Defensive tackle Javon Kinlaw must sit out at least one more game after going on injured reserve on Oct. 15 with inflammation in his surgically repaired knee. Arik Armstead is recovering from what turned out to be a stress reaction and hairline fracture of his left fibula as well as plantar fascia on his right foot. He didn’t practice Wednesday. Neither did defensive end Samson Ebukam, who in addition to the Achilles tendinitis he’s been battling the last three weeks suffered a quadriceps injury in Monday’s practice.
Still, the sense in the 49ers’ locker room Wednesday was that the bye week came at a good time and that the team is poised for a second-half run.
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“I think we’re pretty well-positioned,” Bosa said. “I think everything’s in front of us, which is what you hope for at this point. But we definitely have to take it one day at a time. Because there’s a lot of games left and a lot of things are going to happen throughout the year still.”
The Bosa brothers are extremely close.
Nick, 25, lived with Joey, 27, in Southern California after suffering his own groin tear during Ohio State’s 2018 season. (Joey’s tear is very similar, Nick said.) The two train together during the offseason, with Joey buying a 4,000-square-foot warehouse in an industrial area of South Florida that they converted into a modern gym.
They played together on the same defensive line in high school, but Sunday’s game would have been the first time their teams played each other. Their father, John, had said he planned to dress in a plain, white T-shirt and take a neutral stance. Their mom planned to go in the opposite direction with her split-down-the-middle jersey.
Nick, meanwhile, said he’s been cheering for the Chargers since Joey was drafted in 2016 and is very familiar with the team he’ll face.
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“It’s going to be fun to play ’em,” he said. “I wish he was out there.”
Odds & ends
• Mitchell, Al-Shaair and tackle Colton McKivitz don’t need to be part of the Wednesday practice report because they are still on injured reserve. All three, however, were on the field for Wednesday’s session.
Mitchell, who began the season as the team’s top tailback, said he was fully back from the knee injury he suffered in Week 1. He’s been reaching top speeds of over 19 mph in recent training sessions, which is what he was running before the injury.
• Tackle Mike McGlinchey didn’t spend a lot of time with safety Derwin James Jr. during the 2018 draft process, but he knows James was a player 49ers fans were pining for that April.
The team took McGlinchey No. 9 while the Chargers took James at pick No. 17.
“I think most people wanted him here and not me, if I remember correctly,” he said, noting that offensive linemen aren’t “sexy picks” like hard-hitting safeties. “I’m sorry for the socks and underwear that they got on Christmas in 2018.”
• Guard Aaron Banks missed Wednesday’s practice due to a personal matter. His linemate, tackle Trent Williams, was given a rest day.
• The 49ers opened the practice window for defensive end Jordan Willis, who went on injured reserve on Sept. 14 with a knee injury. When he’s active, Willis would join a defensive end group that includes Bosa, Ebukam, Drake Jackson, Kerry Hyder Jr. and Kemoko Turay.
(Photo: Michael Zagaris / San Francisco 49ers / Getty Images)
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