The San Francisco 49ers and Philadelphia Eagles have been the best teams in the NFC this season, and it should come as no surprise that both teams have stayed relatively healthy on their way to the NFC Championship Game. That is if we conveniently ignore that the 49ers are on QB3. While both teams remain relatively healthy, a few key players remain out of practice through Thursday.
San Francisco 49ers vs. Philadelphia Eagles Thursday Injury Report for the NFC Championship Game
49ers Injury Report
Did Not Practice
QB Jimmy Garoppolo (foot)
RB Christian McCaffrey (calf)
RB Elijah Mitchell (groin)
OT Trent Thomas (rest)
Limited Participation
DE Charles Omenihu (oblique)
CB Ambry Thomas (ankle)
WR Deebo Samuel (ankle)
The 49ers aren’t new to this. Running backs in San Francisco seem to end up on the injury port more often than your favorite Twitch streamer goes live. Kyle Shanahan has consistently been able to get a lot out of a little, but they don’t want to be without McCaffrey or Mitchell in the biggest game of the season. Shanahan said he expects to have Mitchell and McCaffrey available for Sunday’s game.
Garoppolo won’t yet be available to the 49ers. If he does get cleared to play in two weeks — should San Francisco advance — he’ll be Brock Purdy’s backup for the game.
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Samuel didn’t practice Wednesday but was back in a limited fashion on Thursday with his ankle injury, which is good news for a 49ers team that will need all their receiving weapons available against a talented Eagles defensive backfield. But if McCaffrey and Mitchell are both limited on Sunday, Shanahan can and will use a healthier Samuel in the backfield in a do-or-die situation.
Eagles Injury Report
Limited Participation
OT Lane Johnson (groin)
CB Avonte Maddox (toe)
WR A.J. Brown (rest)
CB James Bradberry (rest)
DT Fletcher Cox (rest)
OG Landon Dickerson (rest)
DE Brandon Graham (rest)
OC Jason Kelce (rest)
DE Robert Quinn (rest)
OG Isaac Seumalo (rest)
CB Darius Slay (rest)
DE Josh Sweat (rest)
With so many veterans on the roster, it’s not uncommon to see an injury report the length of a CVS receipt. A full 10 Eagles rested for Thursday’s practice, including four of their five starting offensive linemen. I wonder what Jordan Mailata did to have to practice while his buddies got the day off.
Johnson has been injured for a while now but is forgoing surgery on his injured groin until after the season. The Eagles hope Maddox can return for the NFC Championship Game so that C.J. Gardner-Johnson can play a more versatile role against San Francisco.