49ers-Chargers: Azeez Al-Shaair ahead of schedule, expects to play on Sunday

The San Francisco 49ers hope to get running back Elijah Mitchell back for this weekend’s game against the Los Angeles Chargers. Mitchell, who suffered an MCL sprain in Week 1, saw his practice window opened on Monday.

Two weeks after Mitchell was sidelined, linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair suffered the same injury. On Monday, the 49ers also opened his practice window but had previously stated that they believed he was a couple of weeks behind Mitchell’s timeline, which makes sense considering the timing of the injury.

“I don’t think [he’ll return] right after the bye,” head coach Kyle Shanahan recently said of Mitchell. “I think he’s got a couple of more weeks on that. Him and Elijah kind of had the same injury. I just think Elijah’s a couple of weeks ahead of him.”

However, Al-Shaair has his eyes set on this weekend, admitting that he feels “pretty good.” After Monday’s practice, a reporter asked the linebacker if he was ahead of schedule.

“Oh, for sure, because I think, initially, it was like six to eight [weeks],” Al-Shaair responded (h/t Grant Cohn of SI), “but initially they thought it would probably be eight, just because you’re usually conservative [at the beginning]. And then you kind of just see where each person goes, and I was doing a lot better than they thought, so I was able to get back out there.”

Does Al-Shaair believe he has a good chance to play against the Chargers this weekend?

“Oh, for sure,” the confident linebacker responded. “Yeah, I expect to play Sunday.”