49ers: Fred Warner activated off of COVID-19 list, returns to practice

The San Francisco 49ers have activated linebacker Fred Warner off of the COVID-19 list.

The San Francisco 49ers had their first official practice of the 2020 season on Wednesday and they received some good news regarding linebacker Fred Warner.

The star linebacker was placed on the COVID-19 list back on August 31st and as the days went by, fans grew increasingly worrisome that he wouldn’t be ready to play Week 1.

However, on Wednesday, the 49ers officially activated Warner off the COVID-19 and he returned to practice ahead of Sunday’s game prompting a sigh of relief from 49ers faithful.

It’s unclear whether or not Warner actually tested positive or simply came in close contact with someone who had tested positive as the list is meant for both. But what matters most now is that Warner is healthy and ready to play in Week 1.

A third-round pick in the 2018 NFL Draft, Warner broke out in his second season as a starter emerging as one of the 49ers’ best players on an uber-talented defense.

Aside from being the team’s defensive play-caller, Warner has developed into one of the best pure coverage linebackers in football and certainly isn’t a slouch against the run either.

San Francisco’s linebacker depth is quite strong with the likes of Kwon Alexander and Dre Greenlaw more than capable of picking up the slack, but there’s no replacing a player like Warner. And thankfully, the team won’t have to worry about that this week.

The 49ers did receive an injury update on other players besides Fred Warner.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t all good news coming out of Wednesday’s practice as neither Deebo Samuel nor Brandon Aiyuk participated further leaving their status for Week 1 uncertain.

Samuel continues to recover from a broken hand that he suffered back in June while Aiyuk remains sidelined with a hamstring injury. The hope is that both will be able to go this Sunday, but that remains unclear.

Samuel was activated from the non-football injury list this past weekend leaving many to believe that he will be ready. However, just because he was activated, doesn’t mean that he’ll be active come game day.

Their statuses are certainly worth monitoring over the coming days as we get closer to game day.

But at the very least, it seems as though the 49ers will have Warner back.