The San Francisco 49ers are the No. 1 team in the NFC for a reason. They have one of the deepest teams on both sides of the ball, but one of their key stars, Arik Armstead, has been on the sideline for a few weeks. Head coach Kyle Shanahan spoke on the loss of Armstead, mentioning he's continued to improve toward an active level. San Francisco will play its first playoff game of the season on Saturday against the Green Bay Packers.

“He would've gone [against the Rams] if we needed that,” said Shanahan, per David Bonilla at 49ers WebZone. “That's why we were really pumped that we were able to get that (the top seed), so he didn't have to go [in Week 18].”

Niners general manager John Lynch commented on Armstead's availability and his importance to the team's success. The 49ers have the Super Bowl in mind and nothing else. They've had the pieces to compete for a title the past few seasons but continued to fall short. An NFC championship isn't enough for Lynch's squad in 2024. San Francisco needs to hoist up the Lombardi to call this 49ers season a success. With a player like Armstead, he can bring a boost, in terms of production and experience to help the Niners get to that level.

“Yeah, it's looking like that,” said Lynch. “He's had really good practices here in the last week before we went on our little weekend getaway. And then, coming back here today, he was out there in a limited fashion and did really well. So Arik, that would be a big boost for us. We're a better team when he's out there.”