SANTA CLARA – Left tackle Trent Williams was back in his No. 71 jersey and giving his strained hamstring a go at Thursday’s practice.
Lurking in the background were two other comebacks in the making: linebacker Fred Warner was spotted for the first time running on his surgically repaired ankle, and wide receiver Ricky Pearsall was moving well in his individual conditioning.
The No. 6 49ers certainly could use all three to upset the No. 3 Eagles in Sunday’s wild-card game in Philadelphia.
Warner’s return remains a distant proposition, likely not until the NFC Championship Game or Super Bowl. Three months since fracturing his right ankle, Warner did a couple of 10- to 20-yard sprints with a resistance band around his waist, while cloaked in a hoodie and sunglasses with head trainer Dustin Perry videotaping his every move.
Neither Williams nor Pearsall practiced Wednesday and neither played in Sunday’s 13-3 loss to Seattle that closed out the regular season and locked the 49ers into wild-card status rather than the No. 1 seed.
Williams has never missed a playoff start in his career, but he’s missed back-to-back practices because of a hamstring injury that sidelined him one play into the 49ers’ penultimate regular-season game.
“When you don’t have him and know you’re not going to have him, you have to think, ‘OK, how are we going to cover for that and make up for it?’ ” offensive coordinator Klay Kubiak said. “You’re doing things strategically like helping a tackle or having protection slide.
It’s a huge challenge. But that’s the reality of the NFL. You lose players, you adjust. When Trent is in there, there are certain things you don’t think about.”
OTHER PRACTICE SIGHTS
Not seen at practice were defensive lineman Keion White (groin) and linebackers Dee Winters (ankle) and Luke Gifford (quadriceps).
Tight end George Kittle (ankle) was participating as were defensive linemen Jordan Elliott (knee) and Yetur Gross-Matos (knee).
KITTLE ON PHILLY
Kittle expressed his appreciation for Eagles fans’ passion as they root against any and all visitors.
“It’s incredibly loud. They flip you off and moon you on the bus ride in. But they do that to anybody,” Kittle said. “It doesn’t matter if you’re the Niners or the Jacksonville Jaguars. They just give you that no matter what. I appreciate that because you can tell how much they love their team.”
Kittle has a vivid memory of his rookie year arrival to Philadelphia for a 2017 loss, recalling how: “there were like four 10-year-old kids holding a 7-foot tall paper-mache middle finger that had a rotating thing on it that made the middle finger come up. That was the coolest thing. I’ll never forget it. It was my rookie year.”
Kittle did praise how receptive Eagles fans were to one of his high school friends who attended a game in the upper deck – wearing a Kittle jersey.
PURDY NOT FLASHING BACK
Brock Purdy didn’t necessarily wince Thursday at memories of past 49ers’ visits to Philadelphia, whether it was the 2022 season’s NFC Championship Game in which he tore his right-elbow ligament or a 2023 return the 49ers won 42-19.
“I’m thankful to be able to have healed up from the injury, go to the Super Bowl and have three more seasons after what had happened there,” Purdy said. “But you know, more than anything, it’s our 2025 season and trying to finish strong and go in and compete against a new team, scheme kind of feel. That’s where my mindset’s at with that. “
EAGLES’ RUN-GAME RIFTS
A year after Saquon Barkley succeeded Christian McCaffrey as the NFL’s rushing champion, Barkley’s production dropped from 2,005 yards (5.8 per carry) to 1,140 yards (4.1 per carry). Meanwhile, Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts had his lowest rushing totals since becoming a full-time starter in 2021, with 421 yards on 105 carries.
“The season just going the way it has, the approach this year, and how the games have been called with this coordinator — with coach KP —it’s just kind of gone that way,” Hurts told Philadelphia media, referring to Kevin Patullo, who got promoted this season to offensive coordinator.
When asked how defenses are more successful this season against Barkley, 49ers defensive coordinator Robert Saleh said: “I will skip that question from a schematic standpoint. He’s still elite, damn good, a threat to break it anytime. … They can still run the ball as good as anybody.”
The Eagles rank 18th in rushing yards per game (103.3) and 23rd in yards per carry (4.16); the 49ers run defense is 11th (107.8) and 20th (4.32 ypc.).
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