SANTA CLARA -- There is good reason to play close attention Saturday when the 49ers face the Colts in the third preseason game for each team.
Familiar names will spend considerably more time on the field than they did in the first two games, or will in the preseason finale next week.
Most notable among those names: Richard Sherman, who became an All-Pro cornerback in Seattle but will be making his first appearance for San Francisco.
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“We’re playing him with the starters, and we’d like the starters to play the first half,” coach Kyle Shanahan said Thursday afternoon. “That could be less, it could be a little bit more. We’d like to keep Richard on the same plan.”
Sherman, 30, ruptured his right Achilles tendon last November, leading to his departure from the Seahawks. He then sustained a Grade 1 hamstring strain in the second week of training camp, forcing him to miss the first two preseason games.
The 49ers will monitor Sherman’s activity to decide how long to keep him on the field.
“I’m hoping he gets enough that he feels comfortable,” Shanahan said. “I’m leaning a lot on Sherm with this. He’s finally gotten to the point where he feels he can go and not have some setbacks.”
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Sherman, a Stanford product, signed a three-year contract worth $27.15 million to join the 49ers and is expected to become the leader of the team’s young secondary.