San Francisco 49ers dealing with injuries for second straight year during stay at Greenbrier Resort

The Greenbrier Resort in West Virginia, which San Francisco has used in each of the past two seasons, has turned into the place the 49ers go to nurse their wounds.

For the second straight season, the Niners' stay there has been dampened by multiple key players dealing with injuries.

When the Niners arrived at the White Sulphur Springs resort last season between two games at MetLife Stadium against the New York Jets and New York Giants, they had Nick Bosa and Solomon Thomas in wheelchairs due to torn ACLs, running back Raheem Mostert in a walking boot and tight end Jordan Reed limping with a sprained MCL.

This year, Mostert and cornerback Jason Verrett are hobbled by season-ending knee injuries while linebacker Dre Greenlaw has a groin injury that is expected to sideline him about two months.

The Niners are coming off an injury-plagued 2020 season in which they at one point had players worth more than $80 million in salary-cap space on injured reserve.

Now, ahead of Sunday's game against the Philadelphia Eagles, the loss of three starters in Week 1 prompted some Niners captains to take a proactive approach this past week in trying to prevent teammates from falling into a "here we go again" mindset.

San Francisco suffered a key loss in Mostert, who was positioned to have a huge season after running so well during training camp before injuring his knee in last Sunday's season-opening victory over the Detroit Lions.

The Niners believed in rookie sixth-round draft pick Elijah Mitchell, who was more impressive in training camp than rookie third-round pick Trey Sermon. Mitchell, who boasts 4.35 speed in the 40-yard dash and played in a similar offensive system in college at Louisiana, is expected to be the 49ers' lead back, with JaMycal Hasty and Sermon as the backups.

On the other side of the ball, Verrett was the top cornerback for the 49ers, who thought the veteran cornerback could stay healthy before he suffered his fourth knee injury in the past six seasons.