EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) — Mykel Williams suffered a knee injury during the San Francisco 49ers’ victory over the New York Giants on Sunday, and coach Kyle Shanahan fears the rookie edge rusher’s season could be over.
Shanahan said the initial concern after Williams went down with four minutes left in the game was that it could be a torn ACL.
“You never know till tomorrow,” Shanahan said, who had the chance to catch up with Williams after the Niners beat the Giants 34-24. “He’s just down. You never know, so I said: ‘Hey, hopefully it’s not the worst. But if it is, yeah, it sucks for this year, but that’s all it sucks for. You’ll be back next year, and this won’t affect you at all.’”
Williams was the 11th overall pick in the draft out of Georgia, selected to bolster the 49ers’ pass rush after the team went 6-11 last season. With Nick Bosa sidelined for the year due to a torn ACL, Williams became even more vital. Before his injury, he had recorded 20 tackles and a sack in nine professional games.
“I don’t know what the severity of it was, but I was definitely (ticked),” quarterback Mac Jones said. “I was sitting there just getting ready to go back in and I didn’t know who it was and I was like, ’Oh, Mykel, I hope he’s OK.’ I just prayed for him. I know he was up walking around and stuff, so hopefully he’s doing better, but I’m not sure.”
Williams’ injury came at MetLife Stadium—the same field where Giants receiver Malik Nabers tore the ACL in his right knee earlier this season. This coincidence has sparked discussions among Niners players about the condition of the much-maligned turf, which players have blamed for causing injuries.
“I just adjust my cleats if I feel like it’s an issue,” Jones said. “I don’t know. It’s a football field, and we’ll play wherever we have to play: in the parking lot or on the field.”
Veteran tight end George Kittle noted that MetLife Stadium was the last active NFL stadium he hadn’t played in and expressed frustration over the lack of improvements to the turf, given its poor reputation.
“No NFL field should be the butt of a joke, ever,” Kittle said. “I feel like all the fields should have a level of safety to it. I just don’t get why there’s not a standard for, hey you’ve got to pick between one or two turfs. There shouldn’t be 12 different turfs and 12 different grass fields and then a couple guys have the same things.
“I just think that’s weird because most other sports, it’s not like basketball players play on different hardwoods—that’s all the same. Soccer players in Europe all play on really nice grass. It’s just weird to me.”
League officials have defended the playing surface at the Meadowlands.
“As it relates to MetLife, they had one of the lowest injury rates not just as synthetic but across the league last year,” said Jeff Miller, executive vice president of player health and safety initiatives, at the annual fall owners meeting last month.
“Any injury that occurs on our surfaces, regardless of what they are, are things that we want to investigate and learn from and if they can be deterred, we want to do that.
“But as far as how MetLife is playing, it’s playing really well and has for a while.”
