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MRI Confirms Emmanuel Moseley Tore his ACL

Before we move on to the next man up, let's reflect on how Moseley got injured.

Grant Cohn

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CHARLOTTE -- The 49ers just lost one of their best players for the rest of the season.

An MRI confirmed this morning that Emmanuel Moseley tore his ACL Sunday afternoon during the 49ers' 37-15 win over the Carolina Panthers, according to ESPN's Adam Schefter. Moseley jumped to defend a deep pass and when he landed, his left leg got caught awkwardly in the artificial turf.

The 49ers haven't said who will replace Moseley at cornerback initially. My guess would be second-year cornerback Ambry Thomas, simply because he started in the playoffs last season. But he struggled at times -- there's a reason the 49ers spent big bucks on cornerback Charvarius Ward this offseason and moved Thomas to the bench. And then in training camp, Thomas was one of the worst players on the team. Look for rookie Samuel Womack to challenge Thomas for the starting job.

But before we move on to the next man up, let's reflect on how Moseley got injured.

First, his injury was avoidable. It came with four minutes left in the fourth quarter when the 49ers were winning by 15 points. On the previous series, the 49ers had the ball at the Panthers 42-yard line facing fourth and 1. Had they gone for it and picked up the one yard with, say, a quarterback sneak, they would have essentially ended the game and Moseley probably wouldn't have had to go back on the field. Instead, Kyle Shanahan punted and asked his starting defense to close out the game.

Second, the injury happened on artificial turf in an outdoor stadium. Why the hell do the Panthers have artificial turf? They have the richest owner in the NFL, plus they have an abundant supply of sunlight to grow grass. Why not pay for the good stuff and protect the players? It seems clear that more injuries happen on turf than grass, so ditch the turf. Makes no sense to me.

Before the game started, I wondered if the turf would lead to an unfortunate injury. I'm sorry Moseley is the latest victim.

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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.

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