Injury Puts 49ers’ Garnett on the Sidelines Again

Things never seem to go smoothly for San Francisco 49ers guard Joshua Garnett.

The former first-round draft pick is heading into the final year of his contract still trying to make an impact after injuries and disappointing performances have put him on the sidelines rather than in the starting lineup.

Now Garnett – who had been rotating at right guard with Mike Person with the first-team offensive unit – has sustained another injury.

Garnett had surgery on a dislocated finger this week and is expected to miss about the next three weeks of training camp practice. According to Chris Biderman of the Sacramento Bee, Garnett dislocated the finger early in camp, then aggravated the injury this past weekend. That prompted surgery to repair the damage.

“Josh had good OTAs, he was in great shape, he’d been working hard,” head coach Kyle Shanahan told Biderman. “He just had another unfortunate thing happen with his finger, nothing he could have done without it. He tried to come out and practice with it and it kept popping out. It was going to continue to happen so we made the decision on surgery.”

Last year’s starter, Person, was signed to a three-year extension this offseason, but Garnett still had the opportunity to compete with him during this camp.

But, time won’t be on his side now. The injury means Garnett is likely to miss the team’s first two summer exhibition games, on Aug. 10 vs. the Cowboys and Aug. 19 vs. the Broncos.