49ers to decide whether to place Garnett on season-ending IR

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SANTA CLARA – Guard Joshua Garnett could miss the entire season after undergoing knee surgery early in training camp.

When asked following the 49ers' 23-13 victory over the Los Angeles Chargers in the exhibition finale whether Garnett might be placed on season-ending injured reserve, coach Kyle Shanahan said it is a possibility.

"It’s going to be one of those two," Shanahan said of the two injured-reserve options. "We got to go through and talk about a lot of it. I haven’t had a chance to talk to Josh personally. So we’re going to talk about the different options and what it means for him this year and what it means for him next year."

The 49ers will decide how to handle Garnett’s situation on Friday, general manager John Lynch said before the game. Garnett underwent arthroscopic surgery early in training camp to repair torn cartilage in his knee.

Lynch confirmed that the 49ers have two options:

--Garnett could be kept on the active roster through the team’s cuts to 53 players on Saturday before getting moved to injured reserve, where he could return after six weeks.

--Garnett could be placed on injured reserve before the Saturday roster deadline, making him ineligible to return for the remainder of the season.

“We’re going to figure that all out tomorrow,” Lynch said. “We got kind of a summit with trainers, doctors, with Josh himself. And we’ll figure that all out.”

Zane Beadles started at left guard for the 49ers in the first three exhibition games, while Brandon Fusco lined up at right guard.The 49ers on Thursday morning added third-year lineman Laken Tomlinson in a trade with the Detroit Lions for a fifth-round draft pick in 2019.

“We just felt we needed some depth there at the interior position,” Lynch said. “And, heck, he’s a guy who was a first-round draft choice for a reason. Didn’t go as expected in Detroit, but we like the film.

“I think the consistency probably needs to be there. But you never know what happens. A new regime came in there and it didn’t work with him. We feel he fits well with what we do and we were thrilled to get him.”

Lynch said Tomlinson would compete for a spot on the offensive line. He played mostly left guard during his first two seasons in Detroit after being a first-round pick (No. 28 overall) in 2015.

Former Detroit Lions general manager Martin Mayhew, who now serves as 49ers senior personnel executive, was responsible for drafting Tomlinson. Lynch said he believes Tomlinson fits with the 49ers’ zone-blocking scheme.

“There’s a little bit of it on tape in Detroit,” Lynch said. “He’s known as more of a gap guy. But we saw the ability to get out and go. It helped Martin drafted him. So Martin knows what he’s capable (of).

"Kyle (Shanahan) scouted him out of Duke. So everyone had a pretty good feel. Then we watched the film and we liked what we saw, enough so to pull the trigger.”

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