49ers 7th round draft pick Curtis Holcomb ruptured his achilles tendon in practice today, and is likely to miss the rest of the season, per Matt Barrows twitter account. Holcomb will have surgery on Thursday and will face a long recovery from what is one of the more painful and difficult injuries in sports.
Holcomb, at 5'10, 190 lbs was selected with the Niners last pick in this year's Draft, out of Florida A&M, and was looking to secure himself a roster spot. He doesn't lack confidence, and on a recent 49ers conference call, he had this to say about his best skill as a cornerback:
"I think I can bring a lot to the table when it comes to cornerback. It may be a shutdown corner, just an all-around type guy. I can make open-field tackles, actually I think that's my best thing. I can tackle well. But, I also like to get my hands on the ball and I think, I believe that I'm an overall good cornerback. I can play wherever the coaches need me to play."
David Fucillo and the writers over at NinersNation were already beginning to discuss Holcomb's run at a roster spot and pointed out that he'd have some competition from last year's 7th round pick Philip Adams. As Fucillo put it:
"Holcomb and Adams likely will be battling each other for that (last roster) spot. Adams has the advantage of a year under his belt in the NFL, but he also is dealing with recovery from his season-ending ankle injury. It's never too early to start considering roster and positional battles, and it is safe to say this will be one of those battles whenever football starts back up."
It looks like that roster-spot battle will not be realized. A bad start to training camp for Holcomb and the 49ers.
Check out the rest of that story here, and get more in-depth analysis at NinersNation.