TOMLIN'S INJURY UPDATE
"I'll start at the quarterback position. With Ben's elbow injury and it being deemed to need surgery, we had to make a few moves there. We brought Devlin Hodges up from the practice squad. We felt he was our best option because of his experience with us throughout the offseason and into the preseason in terms of knowing what it is that we do. We brought him back after we traded Josh (Dobbs), so he's been back into the fold with us for the last week, so he knows the ins and outs of what's going on. He provides the best short-term option for us. We also wanted to fortify the position with some depth, so we acquired Paxton Lynch and put him on our practice squad. The fact that (Lynch) has practice squad eligibility provides awesome flexibility for us where we can infuse him into the culture and teach him and evaluate him without occupying a 53-man roster spot.
"We have a number of other injuries that caused us to make some subsequent moves. Sean Davis has been placed on IR with a shoulder injury. We went out and acquired Minkah Fitzpatrick from the Miami Dolphins. We really studied Minkah in the process leading up to the (2018) draft. It was really no secret that we were in the market for a high-end safety, and we ended up drafting Terrell Edmunds in the first round.
"Some other injuries we'll sort through and get a sense of availability as we go through the week. Let me start with Rosie Nix: He was out last week (knee) and we should anticipate him being out this week. We had a number of other guys who have questionable availability (for the 49ers game) and that, as always, will be based on practice availability and then their participation within practice. Those guys are Vince Williams, with a hamstring that's being evaluated to determine the degree of that; Anthony Chickillo with his foot; James Conner with his knee; and Joe Haden with his shoulder.
"I mentioned Joe Haden was dealing with that shoulder a week ago, and he was able to play in the game against Seattle with no negative things to speak of. We'll probably go through a similar process this week with getting him ready to play."
KNOWING THE SPECIFICS ON THE NATURE OF BEN'S INJURY
"I do, but you guys know I try to avoid getting into specifics in this forum. I'm not a doctor, and a lot of those things will be confirmed when he has his surgery. I'll probably wait until after that to get into specific details about what they found and the prognosis in terms of recovery … He fully intends to come back from this injury, and (based on) everything we've heard we're comfortable that is a strong possibility."
IMPACT OF DAVIS' INJURY IN ACQUIRING FITZPATRICK
"Sean Davis' (shoulder) injury was significant in terms of making the decision to make the move that we did (to acquire Fitzpatrick). I'd be less than genuine if I said otherwise."
IF DAVIS' INJURY IS SEASON-ENDING
"We're going to put him on IR, and with IR in today's NFL you have the potential for a designation-to-return, but as we sit here we placed him on IR."
HOW MIGHT YOU DIVIDE UP THE CARRIES AT RUNNING BACK
"I'm not ready to say James Conner is not going to be a full participant in this game. We'll let his practice participation be our guide, and then everyone else's division of labor (at running back) will tier down from there."
