49ers rookie RB Trey Sermon placed on injured reserve

The 49ers will be without rookie running back Trey Sermon for at least the next three weeks. Sermon was knocked out of San Francisco’s win over the Vikings last week after suffering an ankle injury. After Sermon was carted off of the field, head coach Kyle Shanahan said he had suffered a bad ankle sprain.

Since being selected in the third round of the 2021 NFL Draft, Sermon has spent much of his rookie season as a special teams player. Early in the season, as San Francisco experienced injuries to its top three projected running backs – Raheem Mostert, Jeff Wilson, and Elijah Mitchell – Sermon was called upon to carry the load. As soon as Mitchell was available again, Sermon was relegated back to a mostly special teams role.

Sermon’s absence is just latest of a litany of injuries in the 49ers’ running back room as they’ve seen Mostert, Wilson, Mitchell, Sermon and Jamycal Hasty all miss time this year. San Francisco will hope that the severity of Sermon’s condition is limited and that he will be able to return after three games. If he does, Sermon will rejoin a roster slowly starting to get healthy as the 49ers make a push for playoff contention.