Even with an ocean between themselves and the electrical substation in Santa Clara, the San Francisco 49ers can’t seem to escape the injury bug. Head coach Kyle Shanahan announced Wednesday morning that starting defensive tackle Alfred Collins would be out for the season after tearing a torn patellar tendon in the team’s practice in Australia on Tuesday.
“Alfred tore his patellar tendon yesterday,” Shanahan said. “That was a big loss. We’ve lost two D-lineman pretty much for the year after cuts and before the first game which has been a huge challenge. I’m hurting for Alfred… It was real unfortunate for him.”
The Niners had travelled to Melbourne on September 2nd in order to avoid jet lag, and get themselves acclimated to their surroundings ahead of their Thursday night season opener vs. the Rams. According to reports, the injury to Collins occurred just before the team began their 11 on 11 drills on Tuesday.
It’s a major blow to a 49ers defensive unit that is already without defensive end Sam Okuayinonu who was placed on injured reserve with a broken foot that will require surgery. Collins appeared in 16 games as a rookie last year, recording 2 forced fumbles, 2 fumble recoveries, a sack, and 17 tackles in a largely rotational role.
This season, San Francisco planned to start the 24 along their defensive front but will now have to go back to the drawing board only a day prior to their divisional showdown. While fellow defensive tackle Osa Odighizuwa is in line to start, the depth outside of him is looking extremely thin at the moment.
C.J. West, Gracen Halton, and James Thompson Jr. are all options for defensive coordinator Raheem Morris. However, with a grand total 14 games played (all of which belong to West) between the three, calling it an “inexperienced group” may be generous at this point.
Complicating matters is the fact that the team is across the world at the moment, making it extremely difficult to call in a veteran free agent to the facility for a look. While that seems like something the team will prioritize when they arrive back home, for now, it appears as though they’ll be forced to get creative to fill the void left by Collins.
The 49ers and Rams will officially kick off their 2026 NFL campaign Thursday night at 8:35pm ET.
Photo: S. Dudley. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.