49ers' Kyle Shanahan: In worst-case scenario, Reuben Foster misses rookie year

SANTA CLARA — Addressing a report that some teams didn't think Reuben Foster's surgically repaired shoulder will hold up in 2017, Kyle Shanahan on Thursday acknowledged a 'worst-case scenario' in which the linebacker has a second surgery that scuttles his rookie year.

'The worst-case scenario is that the shoulder doesn't heal correctly and you've got to do it again,' the 49ers coach said on KNBR radio. 'And then you have to do it again, you have to get another surgery. It would be tough to play this year, and you end up having him the next year.'

'But it's not something that would hurt him long-term,' Shanahan said. 'So the worst-case scenario, he wouldn't end up being able to play for us right away. But I still don't think that would have changed how I personally felt about taking a guy with the 31st pick with the caliber of player that we took.'

On Wednesday an ESPN report cited sources that worried the offseason surgery Foster had to repair a torn rotator cuff 'didn't take.'

Shanahan said the 49ers team doctors had a different assessment of the shoulder — it was healing properly.

'They thought it was recovering well,' he said. 'They didn't have the same report a lot of other teams did. You never know who is going to end up being right. Everyone is trying to do their best to figure it out. But no one can tell the future. I just look at it as — you go with what your doctors say.'