Brooks is dealing with a death in the family and has been excused from all team activities this week.
Advertisement
Krsunthia Brooks Childs, 40, died from lupus earlier this week, according to The San Jose Mercury News.
Williams said Brooks is now in New Orleans, grieving with his family.
Four days later, Harold offered a weak smile as he recalled his near-sack of Aaron Rodgers in a 17-3 loss to Green Bay. Brooks has started every game since 2011 for the Niners, and notched his first sack of the season last week in a loss to the Packers.
San Francisco defensive coordinator Eric Mangini likes what he sees from the Lynch, the second-year pass rusher, who tied Brooks with six sacks to lead the team as a rookie in 2014.
“I don’t think (Brooks’ absence) is really going to affect us other than emotionally, because of the circumstances”, Aaron Lynch said Thursday.
“He comes off like a really cool and collected guy”, Lynch said of Rodgers. “He is young though, so there’s a lot of things he’s seeing for the first time, especially out of base because he played more nickel previous year”.
Left tackle Joe Staley, for a second consecutive day, rode a stationary bike in the weight room rather than practice because of Sunday’s knee injury. His status for Sunday’s game against the Giants is in doubt.
If Brooks isn’t available, the 49ers will count seven players among their 11 defensive starters who have fewer than 23 career starts, and none will have more than 10 career sacks.
Advertisement
Returning to practice were Boone (ankle), receiver Quinton Patton (concussion) and linebacker NaVorro Bowman (rest).
