Trent Williams, Nick Bosa, and Jimmie Ward Return to 49ers Practice

The 49ers are getting Trent Williams, Nick Bosa, and Jimmie Ward back at practice Wednesday in limited fashion.

Finally some good news for the San Francisco 49ers.

Trent Williams (ankle), Nick Bosa (groin), and Jimmie Ward (hand) will be limited participants in Wednesday's practice. Jason Verrett is also back in practice as a full participant.

The fact that these players are able to give it a go in any capacity at practice is an encouraging sign that they can play against the Chiefs. San Francisco badly needs these three to return as they will face a fiery Chiefs team coming off of a brutal loss.

The situation with Ward is a bit more complicated than Williams and Bosa. Ward has to test out playing with a cast on his broken hand to see where his comfort level is at. 

"We're just gonna see how it goes out there with his cast," said Kyle Shanahan. "How he feels doing it and what he can get away with and be safe with and still perform, so we'll see how it goes."

Gauging how comfortable Ward will be with a cast on during practice will be tough. It is not like the 49ers will be tackling each other and going full speed like in a game. Ward will gain some clarity on what he can do, but I'd imagine it won't be clear to him until he's actually in a game. 

I would bet that Ward is a game-time decision and ends up giving it a go. There is no way he wants to miss out on a chance to face the Chiefs again given his feelings on the infamous third-and-16 play in the fourth-quarter of Super Bowl LIV. The same goes for Bosa who was emotional on the sideline, so I would expect the players who were in that Super Bowl do everything they can to play. Having a 3-3 record after a bad loss to the Falcons is also motivation to avoid a loss in a tough spot.

Now for the bad news with injuries for the 49ers. 

Talanoa Hufanga is still in the concussion protocol, so he will be out of practice. So long as he clears it in the next couple of days, I would suspect he is able to go. I wouldn't be too concerned with him just yet. As for Charvarius Ward (groin) and Mike McGlinchey (calf), they will be held out of practice. Both of these players are on a day-to-day basis, so they could go against the Chiefs. It just isn't something to feel optimistic about. But all it takes is one practice appearance to uplift their chances.

The 49ers will gladly play all of these players if they improve in any way.