49ers Notebook: Sam Okuayinonu injury revealed; Captains announced in Melbourne; Adjusting to time change

The San Francisco 49ers recently placed defensive end Sam Okuayinonu on injured reserve after ruling him out for their Week 1 matchup against the Los Angeles Rams. The defensive lineman did not travel with the team to Melbourne, Australia.

Head coach Kyle Shanahan—now without his mustache—spoke to reporters for the first time in Melbourne at 11:30 a.m. Monday morning local time (Sunday at 6:30 p.m. Pacific) and revealed that Okuayinonu is dealing with a broken foot.

"He had a plate in his foot a while ago," Shanahan said. "And on our bonus practice, the day we came, just stepped on it, and it broke. So, he's going to have to get surgery. It was a bad injury.

"Hopefully, we can get him back later in the year, but it was a real tough loss. I hurt for Sam O, I hurt for our team, but hopefully, we can take care of business, and he can come back later in the year."

George Kittle and Nick Bosa statuses

Meanwhile, Shanahan was unwilling to provide too much detail on the statuses of tight end George Kittle (Achilles) and defensive end Nick Bosa (knee)—or anyone else, for that matter—because he doesn't have to yet.

Both players traveled with the 49ers to Australia and are expected to play against the Rams, but nothing is official yet.

"Because we're technically in the future, from where we're from, and the Rams are in the present, I don't want to talk about injuries until tomorrow," Shanahan said. "So, I'm not talking about it."

Dealing with the time change

Speaking of being in the future, Shanahan shared that it took the 49ers a couple of days to adjust to the time change, but the team has already begun to acclimate to the drastic 17-hour time difference.

The coach noted that every player adjusts to the change differently.

"Some guys feel good and feel great, and then you talk to them five hours later, they're like, 'Never mind, that left,'" Shanahan said. "Some guys started off bad, and then feel good later. For me, I feel my most normal today. So, however many days, I think this is the third day. But I'm doing good, and I think most of the guys are doing real good, too."

The time change didn't impact running back Christian McCaffrey as much as he expected.

"The jet lag didn't hit me that bad, to be honest with you," McCaffrey said. "It was more just how long you're on the plane, which I think you get a couple days here, you get that out of you. But from a jet lag standpoint, I think if you went by the protocol that—I think they talked to all the experts in the world on it—and for us, it wasn't too bad."

McCaffrey added, "The staff did such a good job giving us a great plan for traveling here in the first day, first couple of days back. So, they've done a great job, and I think everybody feels pretty great."

Shanahan tried to explain just how challenging it is for an NFL team to adjust to such a massive time difference.

"When I look at my clock, and it says the time, and then I try to see my family's time, and it says the time, but it says yesterday, I don't even get how that's possible," Shanahan shared. "So I feel like I'm in the future, and then also when we play on our Friday, which I think is a Thursday in the US, we're such creatures of habit, so I call today Wednesday, which is the first day we put in a game plan, but I think it's Monday. However, it's Sunday in the present.

"So I'm going to mess that up all week if you guys ask me, but today is just our first day of the game plan, which is a Wednesday, and we'll put in some on a Thursday. Friday's the final part of the game plan. Saturday we walk through, and we play on Sunday, which is a Friday in Australia and a Thursday in the US, so don't ever make me do that again."

The 49ers arrived in Melbourne last week to give the team more time to acclimate to the time difference. The Rams, however, are taking a different approach and won't arrive until a day before kickoff.

Shanahan made it clear that he is happy the 49ers arrived earlier rather than later.

"I know how I felt the last couple of days," Shanahan said. "It's a little different for a coach, toughing through how you use your mind for three and a half hours is a little bit different than your body. But yeah, I'm glad that we've been out here, because we feel real good today."

49ers team captains announced

Shanahan announced the following eight team captains for the 2026 season:

• DE Nick Bosa
• FB Kyle Juszczyk
• TE George Kittle
• CB Deommodore Lenoir
• RB Christian McCaffrey
• QB Brock Purdy
• WR Fred Warner
• OT Trent Williams

These are the same eight 49ers team captains who were selected for the 2025 season.

Shanahan expects Aaron Donald to play

The 49ers are preparing as if they will face Rams defensive tackle Aaron Donald in Week 1. Donald put his retirement on hold to sign a one-year deal and rejoin the Rams for the 2026 season.

When asked if he expects Donald to play, Shanahan said, "Oh, yeah, definitely. Yeah."

The news of Donald's return didn't shock the 49ers head coach.

"I wasn't crushed on the Sunday that he decided because I decided a month ago that it was happening," Shanahan admitted. "So I prepared for that the right way, and it is what it is. He's a hell of a player, and we'll have our work cut out for [us]."

McCaffrey also shared his thoughts on potentially facing Donald in Week 1.

"He's a force," McCaffrey said. "He's such a good player. Has been his entire career. And when you're going through the scouting report, you got to know where he is. You got to know where 95 is.

"But their defense as a whole, I think what makes them good is when they commit, they play well together, and obviously him being one of the focal points of that is somebody you definitely got to plan for."

Mentioned in this article: Nick Bosa, Kyle Juszczyk, George Kittle, Deommodore Lenoir, Christian McCaffrey, Sam Okuayinonu, Brock Purdy, Fred Warner, Trent Williams