NFL Injury Report: Eagles-49ers (Thursday)

-Kyle Williams is wearing a splint on his middle finger and is questionable to play this Sunday.  Expect to see Ted Ginn returning kickoffs and punts with a smaller role on the offense this season.

Philadelphia
Did Not Participate: WR Riley Cooper (concussion), RB LeSean McCoy (rib), CB Asante Samuel (concussion), QB Michael Vick (rib)
Limited Participation: OG Nick Cole (knee)
Full Participation: CB Jorrick Calvin (shoulder), TE Brent Celek (wrist), OG Todd Herremans (shoulder), OT Austin Howard (back), LB Akeem Jordan (abodomen)

San Francisco
Out: TE Delanie Walker (ankle)
Did Not Participate: WR Kyle Williams (finger)
Full Participation: OG Chilo Rachal (knee)

NFL Injury Report: Eagles-49ers (Wednesday)

All season the 49ers have had center Eric Heitmann, cornerback Will James, and receiver Ted Ginn on the injury report.  Now they are not on the report and it appears they should all be ready for Sunday.

Singletary did not say whether Eric Heitmann would get his starting job back when he is ready to return.  It has been speculated that he may move over to the guard position and replace Chilo Rachal in the starting lineup.

Ted Ginn is expected to make his return this Sunday night, which is much needed especially with the loss of tight end Delanie Walker.  Walker is listed as week to week.

Ginn will be able to help the 49ers offense by giving them a deep threat and also be a much needed addition to the kickoff return team.

Philadelphia

Did Not Participate: WR Riley Cooper (concussion), RB LeSean McCoy (rib), CB Asante Samuel (concussion), QB Michael Vick (rib)
Limited Participation: OG Nick Cole (knee)
Full Participation: CB Jorrick Calvin (shoulder), TE Brent Celek (wrist), OG Todd Herremans (shoulder), OT Austin Howard (back), LB Akeem Jordan (abodomen)

San Francisco

Did Not Participate: TE Delanie Walker (ankle)
Limited Participation: WR Kyle Williams (finger)
Full Participation: OG Chilo Rachal (knee)

With Ted Ginn out, 49ers sign Jason Hill

The injury to wide receiver Ted Ginn Jr. appears to be more serious than originally thought.  Ginn sprained his MCL during the Seahawks game on Sunday and is expected to miss the Monday night game and more.  With Ginn not playing that would have given the 49ers only healthy three wide receivers (Michael Crabtree, Josh Morgan, Dominique Ziegler).  The 49ers fifth wide receiver, Kyle Williams is also injured and will not play.

With the injury to Ginn the 49ers made a move.  They signed Jason Hill, a receiver who drafted by the 49ers in 2007 and recently cut by the 49ers.  They also had to cut cornerback Tramaine Brock from the 53-man roster to make room for Hill and they cut linebacker Bruce Davis from the practice squad in hopes of signing Brock to the practice squad.  

With Ginn not able to play Mike Singletary will likely have cornerback Phillip Adams return punts and have wide receiver Josh Morgan return kicks.

Ted Ginn Jr. named starting punt returner

Yesterday, Mike Singletary announced that Ted Ginn Jr. was going to be the teams primary punt returner against the Seahawks.  This is not exactly what everyone thought was going to happen once the season started.  During the preseason Singletary said that he wanted Ginn to focus on being a wide receiver and just doing kickoff returns and was looking for someone else to be their punt returner.

It appeared that wide receiver Kyle Williams was on his way for that role before he was injured in the first preseason game.  Then cornerback Phillip Adams had looked good in that role and it appeared he was going to be the 49ers punt returner going into the first game. 

Singletary stated that he spoke with special teams coordinator and they just felt more comfortable with Ginn back there returning punts.  He left it open for Adams to possibly still return punts.

During the offseason the 49ers traded with the Miami Dolphins for Ted Ginn Jr. in order to shore up the punt and kick return game that had been atrocious last year for the 49ers.  Ginn has a lot of experience returning punts and kicks when he was at Ohio State and then later when he was with the Dolphins.  During three years with the Dolphins, Ginn returned 147 kickoffs with an average of 23 yards/return and scored two touchdowns and has returned 36 punts for an average of 8.7/return with one touchdown.

In 2009, the 49ers averaged 4.4 yards/return on the punt returns which put that in last place in the NFL and on kickoff returns they averaged 21.8 yards/return which was 23rd in the NFL.