Richard Sherman is latest 49er to go down with injury at training camp

SANTA CLARA - Now Richard Sherman has two leg injuries.

The 49ers veteran cornerback pulled his hamstring Friday morning at training camp. This in addition to his surgically repaired Achilles tendon he ruptured Nov. 9 and still rehabs.

Sherman injured his hamstring fewer than 10 minutes into team drills. He was covering starting wide receiver Pierre Garcon man-to-man, the offense called a play-action pass and Garcon ran a deep crossing route from the right side of the offense all the way to the left.

Sherman chased as fast as he could, but Garcon still beat him by two or three steps. When Garcon caught the ball, Sherman lunged at him with one hand, missed and fell hard to the ground. Garcon jogged into the end zone for the touchdown. Sherman got up, walked slowly to the sideline, took off his helmet and did not return to practice.

“Didn’t see him fall,” 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan said, “but they told me out there his hammy got tight on him so they took him out. We’ll see after I talk to (head athletic trainer Jeff Ferguson) Ferg.”

Throughout training camp, the 49ers have worked hard to protect Sherman. They never let him play more than three reps in a row during team drills, and never let him practice more than two days back to back. Thursday was his day off. Friday was his return. He has the lightest workload on the team. Apparently, that workload still was too much for him. He lasted only six training camp practices before injuring himself and it is unclear how long he will be out.

But Sherman isn’t the only 49ers player who has injured himself during training camp.

Starting right guard Joshua Garnett injured his surgically repaired left knee last Saturday and missed his fifth practice in a row on Friday.

“There is concern,” Shanahan said on Friday. “Josh doesn’t feel right. That’s always worrisome when a player doesn’t feel right. I know Josh is getting a few second opinions. We’ll wait until our doctors talk with the other people and we’ll see what conclusion they come to.”

Garnett got a second opinion later in the day, and the doctor said Garnett needs more rehab, but not surgery, according to NFL.com’s Tom Pelissero. Garnett had surgery on his left knee a year ago.

When Garnett re-injured his knee last Saturday, the 49ers said he “banged” it and suffered a contusion. The injury sounds worse than a contusion.

“That depends on who you talk to,” Shanahan said, “and that’s what we’re trying to find out. That’s what he’s trying to find out. Josh went through a lot last year with his knee and took a season off treating it right. He got himself ready to play and came in here and had a good OTAs, had a couple good practices and then he hit his knee. It’s worried him and I understand that. But he doesn’t feel right and we’re trying to figure out what it is and hopefully we will.”

In addition to Garnett’s knee, the 49ers are trying to figure out what’s wrong with starting linebacker Malcolm Smith’s left heel.

Smith missed the first four days of training camp with a heel problem, returned to practice this Tuesday and left again Friday with the same injury. Smith hasn’t played football since 2016.

He missed all of last season with a pectoral injury he suffered during training camp. He turned 29 on July 5.

Defensive back Jimmie Ward returned to practice Friday after missing the previous two sessions with hamstring tightness.

Last year, Ward missed all of training camp and preseason with a pulled hamstring, so the 49ers are cautious with him. They shut him down for the day on Friday when Ward said he felt the tightness in his hamstring during warmups and individual drills.

They shut down rookie wide receiver Dante Pettis, too. He missed Friday’s practice with a tight groin.

“It was tight on him yesterday,” Shanahan said. “Tightened up on him even more in walk-through and came in this morning with it even tighter. When it’s usually like that, you want to stop him before he pulls it.”

That’s what the 49ers did with defensive end Jeremiah Attaochu. Stopped him. He felt his groin tighten Thursday during practice, so they held him out Friday.

They probably should have done the same with defensive end Cassius Marsh, who complained of groin tightness during warmups Friday morning. The 49ers let him practice anyway. Fifteen minutes into team drills, Marsh injured his groin.

“I don’t think he pulled it,” Shanahan said. “I think it’s very similar to the other guys. Guys are tight. They’re all tight and they’re trying to tough through it.”

So much tightness for one team.