NFL Notes: 49ers, Cardinals, Chiefs, Texans

49ers

Tom Pelissero reports that at least one team’s medical staff believes Alabama LB Reuben Foster will require another surgery to fix the torn rotator cuff in one of his shoulders or else he’ll be playing through pain.

An executive for another team tells Pelissero that his shoulder issue is “problematic, and the way he plays, how long can he hold up?”

Of course, there are other concerns with Foster, who produced a diluted sample at the Scouting Combine and was sent home for an argument with the medical staff.

“You better have a Dez Bryant-like infrastructure around him,” a scout tells Pelissero.

Cardinals

Cardinals GM Steve Keim told reporters Thursday night that he hasn’t “put much thought” into the news that LB Daryl Washington has been reinstated to the NFL.

“You know what? I’ll be honest with you,” Keim said, via NFL.com. “For the last 72 hours, I’ve done nothing but stare at college tape and that draft board. At the appropriate time, we’ll address that.

“I’ll be honest with you, I haven’t put much thought into it.”

Chiefs

Chiefs HC Andy Reid made it clear that first-round QB Patrick Mahomes isn’t ready to play, despite the team trading up to get him in round one last night.

“Right now Patrick isn’t absolutely ready to play — he’s got some work to do,” Reid said, via the Kansas City Star. “He’s going into a great room … he can learn from Alex. We have to be patient with him. Tremendous upside. Good person, intelligent with great skill.

“We think they’re both really good football players. We just thought we with what we do, Mahomes would fit in well.”

Reid also made it clear that Alex Smith is still their starting quarterback and they aren’t worried about this affecting him.

“I don’t worry about Alex on this,” Reid said. “Alex knows we trust him. Alex is the starting quarterback. Nothing is going to change there. The kid is going to take some time. He understands that.

“But there’s gonna be a day Alex isn’t playing anymore and we’ll need someone to step in and play.”

Texans

Texans GM Rick Smith told the NFL Network that they’re comfortable moving forward with Tom Savage as their starting quarterback, despite trading up in round one to get Deshaun Watson.

“We’ve said all along that we feel comfortable with Tom Savage,” Smith said, via NFL.com. “Tom Savage, in this offense, knows how to operate this offense. So that’s our expectation. Deshaun comes in and learns. I think he has some things to improve on. But we’re in a good situation where we do feel good about Tommy at the position. We’ll let Deshaun come in and learn, compete and do all those things we do at every other position on the football team.“