Kyle Shanahan said he didn’t expect 49ers right tackle Trent Brown to practice Wednesday. Then Brown in the locker room said he probably wasn’t going to practice.

Then Brown ended up practicing, albeit in a very limited fashion.

Brown, after suffering a shoulder injury in practice last week that prevented him from playing against the Seahawks, on Wednesday only did positional and individual drills during the early portion of practice open to reporters.

He wasn’t given a blue non-contact jersey, although it didn’t appear as though he was going to take part in team drills where he’d put his shoulder at risk.

Brown might be the most important injured 49er to monitor throughout the week of practice because he’s one of the team’s two best pass protectors (along with Joe Staley) — and the 49ers are giving Jimmy Garoppolo his first start at quarterback since joining the team.

San Francisco on Wednesday made a move along the offensive line to cope for Erik Magnuson’s addition to injured reserve after suffering a foot injury while replacing Brown against Seattle. The team brought back interior lineman Tim Barnes, who was cut before the regular season after spending the spring and training camp working mostly at center.

But adding an interior lineman doesn’t mean Brown is more or less likely to play Sunday against the Bears. Adding Barnes gives San Francisco another center in case Zane Beadles has to kick out to right tackle to replace Brown. Beadles had been the team’s backup center behind Daniel Kilgore.

“You only get to dress seven guys, sometimes eight, which will hurt another position,” Shanahan said. “But, you try to dress seven guys on game day and you need a starting tackle and a backup tackle and you need a backup center. We know Barnes can do that.”

The 49ers got some good news regarding the safety spot. Adrian Colbert returned with a small brace on his thumb that required surgery that kept him out of the Seahawks game following his promising outing in the win over the Giants. San Francisco would like to get him back after platooning Antone Exum Jr. and Leon Hall at free safety against Seattle.

Here’s Wednesday’s practice report:

Did not practice:

QB C.J. Beathard (knee, hip), DE Elvis Dumervil (not injury related), T Joe Staley (not injury related)

Limited:

T Trenton Brown (shoulder), S Adrian Colbert (thumb), TE George Kittle (ankle)

Full participation:

S Eric Reid (knee), DE Solomon Thomas (knee)