On Wednesday, ESPN's Adam Schefter reported that Reuben Foster's surprising drop to the 49ers late in the first round last week was due to his concerning shoulder injury. Schefter wrote that Foster's surgery "didn't take" and one source predicted "Foster would not make it through his rookie season."
On Thursday, 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan didn't exactly refute Schefter's report. In an interview with KNBR, Shanahan admitted that there's a chance Foster could miss the entire season.
"The worst-case scenario is the shoulder doesn't heal correctly and you've got to do it again," Shanahan said. "When you have to do it again, you have to get another surgery, and so it would be tough to play this year, and you'd end up having him the next year."
But Shanahan went on to explain why that might not matter all too much to a rebuilding team like the 49ers.
"But it's not something that would hurt him long-term," he said. "So, the worst-case scenario: He wouldn't end up being able to play for us right away. But I still don't think how that would have changed how I personally felt about taking a guy with the 31st pick with the caliber of player that we took."
That part at least makes sense. If the 49ers aren't worried about the long-term implications of Foster's shoulder injuries, they had no reason to pass on Foster at that point in the draft. Early in the draft process, he was a top-10 talent, but was dragged down by injury concerns, a diluted urine sample, and an incident with the hospital worker, which led to him getting booted from the combine. If none of those three things play a long-term role, then the 49ers just hit a home run with the 31st overall pick. With or without Foster, the 49ers aren't a playoff team in 2017. They're still a year or two or three (or four or five) away from contending.
But injuries can be tricky. And there's no guarantee that Foster's injury woes won't stick with him throughout his career, even if the 49ers did their due diligence. As Shanahan himself put it, "No one can tell the future."
