More than two months removed from the injury that abruptly ended his season, 49ers linebacker Fred Warner still is able to recall the moment with striking clarity.
Warner, who suffered a dislocated and broken right ankle during San Francisco’s loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Oct. 12, detailed the aftermath of the injury during a recent appearance on “The Ryen Russillo Show.” The play occurred early in the first quarter and immediately sidelined one of the 49ers’ defensive leaders.
“I tried to spin out of the block and boom,” Warner said. “It was just this violent hit down below where I’m on the ground now. I look down and my foot’s facing the wrong direction and I’m like, ‘Oh my gosh.’ “
Despite the severity of the injury, Warner told Russillo the most memorable sensation wasn’t pain.
“It wasn’t agonizing pain,” Warner explained. “It was like a thumping feeling. But the thing I remember most vividly was this uncomfortable feeling — one because your foot is in the wrong direction, but then two, the shrieking that’s going on around you.”
Warner described hearing teammates react in real time before a second wave of noise erupted when the replay appeared on the stadium video board.
“I kind of laid down and just am holding my leg waiting for them to get to me, and then there’s a second round of shrieking when they show it on the big board,” Warner noted. “So, the whole stadium now has seen the replay and they’re all shrieking. I’m on the ground just like ‘Man, just please put this thing back in place.’ “
The 49ers’ head team physician quickly ran onto the field and reset the ankle before Warner was placed in an air cast and carted off. Warner emphasized that the procedure itself was unsettling but not especially painful.
“Them putting it back honestly wasn’t that bad,” Warner explained. “It just felt like a crunching almost. It’s hard to explain. There wasn’t like a pain to it. It was literally just like the thumping of the trauma of it all and the blood flowing to that area. That’s what I remember so vividly was like the feeling … you can feel your pulse in your foot.”
Even amid the chaos, Warner recalled experiencing an unexpected sense of calm. A daily journaling practice — something he does consistently, especially before games — helped ground him in the moment.
“I was just overcome with gratitude,” Warner said. “Everything happens for a reason. God has a plan. I was telling guys that as I’m getting carted off and they’re feeling sorry for me — like, ‘I’ll be good.'”
Coach Kyle Shanahan confirmed after the game that Warner would require surgery, which he later underwent. Now, as he continues his recovery in mid-December, Warner’s focus has shifted from the injury itself to the long road back.
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