49ers Active Jimmie Ward off the Injured Reserve List

The 49ers should be extra cautious with him just in case, because they can beat the Panthers without him.
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CHARLOTTE -- This is intriguing.

The 49ers activated veteran safety Jimmie Ward off the Injured Reserve List today, meaning he might play tomorrow against the Carolina Panthers. 

Ward originally suffered the injury on August 25 in practice. This past week, the 49ers opened Ward's three-week practice window. But Ward apparently has recovered so quickly, he doesn't need the full three weeks. The 49ers think he's ready now.

First of all, congratulations to Ward. Hamstring injuries must be scary for defensive backs, because they rely so heavily on speed and explosiveness. Good to see him overcome this one.

But there is no need to rush Ward back from this injury. The 49ers should be extra cautious with him just in case, because they can beat the Panthers without him. The Panthers offense stinks and the 49ers offense is No. 1 in the NFL without Ward. And frankly, the 49ers can beat the Falcons without Ward next week, too. The 49ers don't need Ward right now. They'll need him a couple weeks when they face All Pro tight end Travis Kelce and the Kansas City Chiefs.

Also, the 49ers have a history of rushing players back from soft tissue injuries too soon. Dre Greenlaw is just one example. Last season, he injured his groin Week 1, returned Week 11 and injured it again. Clearly, Greenlaw wasn't quite ready to play yet.

Is Ward ready?

He hasn't played since late August, so he can't be in football shape. The prudent thing for the 49ers to do would be to play Ward just a few snaps this Sunday, if they play him at all. Then play him a little more next week. Then hopefully start him against the Chiefs.

Be smart. It's a long season.


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Grant Cohn
GRANT COHN

Grant Cohn has covered the San Francisco 49ers daily since 2011. He spent the first nine years of his career with the Santa Rosa Press Democrat where he wrote the Inside the 49ers blog and covered famous coaches and athletes such as Jim Harbaugh, Colin Kaepernick and Patrick Willis. In 2012, Inside the 49ers won Sports Blog of the Year from the Peninsula Press Club. In 2020, Cohn joined FanNation and began writing All49ers. In addition, he created a YouTube channel which has become the go-to place on YouTube to consume 49ers content. Cohn's channel typically generates roughly 3.5 million viewers per month, while the 49ers' official YouTube channel generates roughly 1.5 million viewers per month. Cohn live streams almost every day and posts videos hourly during the football season. Cohn is committed to asking the questions that 49ers fans want answered, and providing the most honest and interactive coverage in the country. His loyalty is to the reader and the viewer, not the team or any player or coach. Cohn is a new-age multimedia journalist with an old-school mentality, because his father is Lowell Cohn, the legendary sports columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle from 1979 to 1993. The two have a live podcast every Tuesday. Grant Cohn grew up in Oakland and studied English Literature at UCLA from 2006 to 2010. He currently lives in Oakland with his wife.