Add The California Post on Google SANTA CLARA — The San Francisco 49ers have an Aaron Donald problem.
“Never thought he’d do it,” general manager John Lynch said Monday afternoon, a little over 24 hours after the future Hall of Famer announced he was coming out of retirement after two years away from the game. “But he’s doing it. So we’d better get ready for it.”
It remains to be seen if Donald, 35, will be in game shape by the time the 49ers open the season against the Rams next Thursday in Australia. But he’s already practicing and there’s precedent for the interior gamebreaker to pull off the quick turnaround after a long layoff.
In 2018, Donald held out until Aug. 31 and played 62 of 70 possible snaps in their season opener on Sept. 10, almost exactly mirroring the scenario this year — just a few years older.
“I mean the guy’s different, right? He’s an exceptional player. One of the greats,” Lynch said. “Now, there’s time away. But I know that guy trains like a bad man.”
Either way, it’s bad news for the 49ers’ outlook in the stacked NFC West.
One of their primary competitors are the defending Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks, and the other might as well have been crowned the champions of the offseason.
Donald is just the cherry on top for the Rams, who added a combined five Defensive Player of the Year awards, 14 first-team All-Pro appearances and five Super Bowl rings to their defense between him, Myles Garrett, Trent McDuffie and Jaylen Watson.
It was hard not to think about the John Wooden quote that Lynch recounted to coach Kyle Shanahan after Los Angeles traded for Garrett earlier in the summer.
Don’t lose sleep, worrying about your competition. Let them lose sleep worrying about you.
“And as we were speaking,” Lynch said back in July of his exchange with Shanahan, “[the Garrett news] came out and Kyle said, ‘You know what? F John Wooden.’”
The reaction inside the 49ers’ facility to the Rams’ reunion with Donald was no different.
“They got better certainly, with him coming out of retirement,” Lynch said Monday. “I think we’re pretty good, too.”
The Niners’ summer, featuring their coach’s car crash, more drama with Brandon Aiyuk (who Lynch confirmed won’t receive his Sept. 1 roster bonus) and their owner getting arrested on prostitution charges in a trailer park, lands on the opposite side of the spectrum than the Rams.
Nevertheless, Lynch has a point about a roster that can probably contend with just about any in the league at any position when it comes to top-level talent, when healthy.
The one exception just might be their biggest problem if the Rams do indeed have Donald at their disposal in Week 1. Shanahan still wasn’t ready to name a starting left guard Monday.
“We haven’t had [those] three practices yet [this week] and we just added a new guy [guard/cetner Jarrett Patterson] to the group, too,” Shanahan said. “So, it’s truly fluid.”
That much was evident when the 49ers took the field without pads for their first of three practices before they depart for Australia on Wednesday. Taking snaps with the first-team at left guard: Connor Colby, who had entered camp as the incumbent but had spent most of his time over the past two weeks or so with the second team at right guard.
Rookie Carver Willis, who had been getting most of the first-team reps recently, lined up at left guard with the reserves. And Shanahan didn’t rule out adding another entrant to the mix in Patterson, acquired from the Texans on Sunday and who has experience at guard and center.
At least they will be more stable on the other side of the offensive line, where starting right guard Dominick Puni returned to practice for the first time since suffering a concussion before their first preseason game.
Still, the inside of their offensive line is arguably the weakest link on the 49ers’ entire roster.
Even if Donald is only out there for 20 snaps, it’s about to get an unexpected stress test.
Lynch said he crosssed paths with the Niners’ longtime nemesis in a hotel lobby not too long ago and “had some fun chatter back and forth.”
Now, he can pencil in at least two more dates the two will see each other.
Just two defensive ends participated in practice Monday — Keion White and Sam Okuayinonu — with Nick Bosa (knee) nowhere to be seen and Romello Height (ankle) working on the side.
Bosa hasn’t practiced since the first week of August with what the 49ers initially described as tendinitis in his surgically repaired right knee, “but now it’s more of just being smart,” Shanahan said. The expectation is that the five-time Pro Bowler will return to practice this week.
“When he upped the activity, he got sore. And so he backed off,” Lynch added. “And we put together a really good plan that we believe will have him ready for Australia.”
Tight end George Kittle is in the same boat as Bosa, though he took part in positional drills before practice was closed to reporters. Shanahan confirmed reports that Kittle is expected to rejoin team drills at practice this week, a portion of practice that is now closed to reporters.
Besides Puni, a few other 49ers who had not been participating in practices at the end of training camp returned to the field Monday: safety Malik Mustapha, fullback Kyle Juszczyk and backup offensive tackle Vederian Lowe.
Wide receiver Mike Evans, defensive tackle Gracen Halton, linebacker Luke Gifford and cornerback Nate Hobbs joined Height in only taking part in individual work.
It was a scheduled light day for Evans, who along with veterans such as linebacker Dre Greenlaw, won’t practice three days in a row at all this season.
