While the new NFL season is yet to begin, complications for the San Francisco 49ers keep piling up as days pass by. The preseason game against the Tennessee Titans on Thursday night highlighted more concerns for QB Kurtis Rourke.
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The incident occurred in the second quarter when Rourke was hit by two defenders during a 3-yard scramble near the goal line. He stayed in for two more snaps before going to the sideline and reaching out to the medical staff.
According to 49ers HC Kyle Shanahan,
“They said ribs, he was struggling to breathe,” Shanahan said during the post-game press conference. “So they took him to the hospital just to check on him and make sure he’s alright. X-rays in here didn’t show it was broken. They just wanted to get more imaging and find out, so they weren’t too concerned. I don’t want to downplay it, but I don’t want to overplay it either.”
Kurtis Rourke was struggling to breathe. Per the medical reports, initial stadium X-rays came back inconclusive for fractures. However, before exiting, the second-year signal-caller appeared to be doing fine. He completed 12 of 14 passes for 101 yards while rushing for 14 yards.
“He looked good. Got the ball to the right spot, played well,” Shanahan said about Rourke’s performance.
After Kurtis Rourke’s exit, QB Adrian Martinez replaced him, completing 16 of 30 passes for 159 yards. But considering a potential scenario where both Rourke and Martinez suffer season-ending injuries, HC Kyle Shanahan already had a player in mind to replace them in the QB room.
“We were talking about who are in the game who could take a handoff and hand it off or take a snap and hand it off. So, Brayden Willis was going to go in. We were doing hand-off drills with him at halftime, so he was ready for it if we had to,” Shanahan said.
The detailed report of Rourke’s concerns is yet to be revealed. Still, the injury concerns for the San Francisco 49ers keep growing as the regular season approaches. First off, WR Ricky Pearsall was ruled out for the entire 2026 season due to a lingering knee injury.
But apart from Pearsall, Rourke will likely return to represent the 49ers in the 2026 season. But that said, the 25-year-old QB wasn’t the only player to take brutal hits and bruise their body in the preseason opener game.
CB Jack Jones injured his hand on the Titans’ very first offensive drive of the first quarter and was quickly ruled out. Then safety Marques Sigle left the game after suffering an oblique injury and did not return. And lastly, LB Nick Martin exited the game with a neck stinger. However, unlike the other three, Martin returned to action and finished as the team’s leading tackler (8).