Richard Sherman says he's fully healthy, ready for 49ers training camp

SANTA CLARA - Richard Sherman is ready to play, sort of.

The 49ers cleared the veteran cornerback for training camp, which begins Thursday, but he isn't a full-go. He's a partial-go.

“We all know the injury he's coming off,” 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan said Wednesday in the 49ers auditorium. “We're going to take it pretty easy with Sherman. He is going to be in and out a lot.”

Sherman, 30, ruptured his right Achilles on Nov. 9 - fewer than nine months ago. The Seattle Seahawks released him March 9. The 49ers signed him a day later with a plan in mind.

“He'll go two days on, one day off,” Shanahan said, meaning Sherman will participate Thursday and Friday during the 49ers' light, non-contact practices when players wear no pads. Then, Sherman will sit out Saturday's more rigorous practice when players wear pads for the first time this training camp.

“Then, Sherman will go that fourth day,” Shanahan said, referring to Sunday, a padded practice. “We have a day off the fifth day (Monday), and we will re-evaluate Sherman after that.”

If Sherman has a setback, the 49ers could shut him down the rest of training camp.

“It's different with Richard,” Shanahan said. “There are lots of guys we're real excited about who we think have a chance at a real good future, and some guys who have had SOME success.”

Shanahan drew out the word, “Some.” He sounded like he meant “A little.”

He continued: “Richard is one of our few guys who have done it for a longer time. We know what Richard is. We trust how he works. We know it's important for him to get out there. We've got to be careful. If Richard is being a little too aggressive, it's our job to pull him back a little bit.

“All I care about Richard is him getting himself back to being Richard Sherman by Week 1. If he can't do it by then, just be honest with us, because it's a matter of time until he gets back. We just want to make sure we're smart, and not have a setback.”

The plan is to ramp him up slowly because, clearly, Sherman is not 100 percent healthy.

Twenty minutes after Shanahan said that, Sherman strode into the auditorium and announced he is 100 percent healthy.

“100 percent?” a reporter asked.

“100 percent, yeah,” Sherman repeated.

Sherman seemed elated, like training camp is a breeze.

“How are you guys doing?” he enthusiastically asked the local reporters he doesn't know yet.

“Good, how are you?” the reporters replied in unison.

“I'm doing all RIGHT,” Sherman said, coming down hard on the “right.” He had just earned a $2 million bonus from the 49ers for being healthy enough to make the active roster at the beginning of training camp. He was doing better than all right. Two million dollars helps anyone feel well.

“What will you do with the $2 million?” a reporter asked.

“Invest in something,” Sherman said, grinning. In love with his answer. “Probably some fund that pays me a decent percent.”

A money manager.

Sherman said he knows he will be ready for training camp. “The outside world wanted to make headlines one way or the other: ‘He's not going to be ready for these reasons,' or ‘He's going to be ready for these reasons.' But I never had any doubt. My body was recovering and healing at the rate they wanted it to heal.”

Now that Sherman thinks he's 100 percent, here are his goals for training camp:

“I expect to dominate,” Sherman said. “I expect to play at a high level. I expect to make my stops, to play my technique, to be where I'm supposed to be when I'm supposed to be there. Outside of that, I expect to be a great teammate, to encourage my young guys when I'm not practicing, to help them get better, to watch them grow in their technique and ability. I expect this team to come together and play at a high level on offense and defense.”

Sherman has great expectations.

NOTES

While Sherman will practice Thursday, the following players will not:

Guard Jonathan Cooper, wide receiver Trent Taylor and outside linebacker Dekoda Watson are on the physically unable to perform (PUP) list.

“They have been cleared,” 49ers general manager John Lynch said Wednesday. “They're out of their rehab. But we feel there needs to be some conditioning. Cooper, we want to see a little more on the side before we throw him in there. Trent, we're just being prudent. We want him to not have his first contact on the field. We want to get him pushed around a little on the side. And Dekoda has a calf injury that still lingers a bit.”

In addition to those three, linebacker Malcolm Smith will miss Thursday's practice. He is on the Non-Football Injury (NFI) list.

“That will be a surprise to you,” Lynch said. “It's something in the lower leg that just popped up in the last couple weeks. Good for Malcolm, he's an honest guy. It concerned him enough to let us know about it. He has been with (head athletic trainer) Jeff Ferguson and (head team physician) Dr. Tim McAdams the last couple days. They feel good about it. Just a couple days on the side to get him going. I don't think it will be long.”