ORLANDO, Fla. — Linebacker Dre Greenlaw was not the only person on the 49ers’ sideline to sustain a torn Achilles during the Super Bowl.
Defensive backs coach Daniel Bullocks is also going through physical therapy after surgery to repair a torn Achilles he sustained early in the third quarter of Super Bowl LVIII.
“I think it was when Ji’Ayir [Brown] got his interception,” 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan said Tuesday at the NFL Annual Meeting.
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“He just jumped up and cheered, very similar to Dre’s, and his Achilles went, too.”
Greenlaw registered three tackles in the 49ers’ first 12 defensive snaps of the game. He was jumping up and down on the 49ers’ sideline and sprang forward to take the field after a punt when his left Achilles ruptured.
Greenlaw's Super Bowl came to an end with 9:16 remaining in the second quarter. The 49ers lost 25-22 in overtime to the Kansas City Chiefs in Las Vegas.
Greenlaw is not likely to be ready for the start of the regular season, 49ers general manager John Lynch said on Monday.
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Greenlaw is expected to begin the regular season on physically unable to perform, which would make him ineligible to play in the first four games of the regular season.
Bullocks is also going through physical therapy after undergoing surgery.
“I didn’t know until the next morning, to tell you the truth,” Shanahan said of Bullock’s injury. “I just thought he hurt his ankle but by the time the game was over, he could barely walk.
“It was funny. The next morning, I woke up early and my wife told me Bullocks tore his Achilles, and I said, ‘No, it was Greenlaw.’ And I got into the biggest argument with her. And Bullocks got on the bus in a boot and, she’s like, ‘Told ya.’”
There is little to explain how a player and a coach could sustain such bizarre non-contact injuries in such similar fashions.
“It’s crazy,” Shanahan said.
There is no evidence of a common link between the injuries, of course.
However, it is worth noting the 49ers expressed concern to the league office that three days of practices on the sponge-like field at UNLV could lead to lower-body injuries during the Super Bowl.
Perhaps that is what Shanahan had in mind when asked if there were any theories about why Greenlaw and Bullocks sustained such similar injuries.
“Nothing I want to get into,” he answered. “It’s frustrating.”
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