- San Francisco 49ers quarterback Trey Lance suffered a sprained knee in Sunday’s 17-10 loss to the Arizona Cardinals.
- The game was Lance’s first NFL start in place of the Niners’ usual quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo.
- Lance is not expected to be sidelined longterm due to the knee sprain.
Trey Lance got a mixed report card for his first NFL start on Sunday against the Arizona Cardinals. He also got something he definitely didn’t want–a sprained knee. Lance sprained his left knee at some point during the 17-10 loss to the Cardinals. He had an MRI earlier today and isn’t expected to miss much time.
Fortunately for the 49ers, they catch a break from the league schedule maker. San Francisco is heading into their bye week and won’t play again until October 24 when they host the Indianapolis Colts. Lance will have to stay in the Bay Area during the bye week for treatment and he’ll be reassessed later in the week. Starting quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo will also be receiving treatment for a right calf injury that kept him out of this past Sunday’s game. The team is hoping that he’ll be ready to play against the Colts after the bye week.
According to head coach Kyle Shanahan, Lance said that he felt fine after Sunday’s game despite taking quite a few hits. He said his knee started to give him trouble right before he went to bed on Sunday night. No one was able to pinpoint the exact play where it happened but the MRI did reveal a minor sprain. Head coach Shanahan explained the situation in his Monday media availability:
“It’s not a long-term injury but they did say they won’t be able to know until (later). He’ll have to stay here on the bye week and get treatment and everything, so we should have a good idea by the end of the next week whether he has got a chance for Indy or not. If he doesn’t, they told me it should be like a one-to-two-week thing but possibly just one.”
Shanahan also quipped that at least the quarterbacks will be able to keep each other company:
“I was messing with Trey and Jimmy that now Jimmy just got some company. So, they’ll be here, both of them the whole week so they have the best chance to be ready for Monday when we all get back.”
San Francisco won their first two games of the season but have now lost three straight to drop to 2-3. Shanahan says that he thought Lance performed well in his first start:
“It doesn’t change my opinion big-picture. Trey definitely has the ability to help us win games. I thought he was a big part of why we had a chance to win that game yesterday. I just wish we could have played better around him, too. Not that he was perfect by any means but he gave us a very good chance to win that game and I know he will give us a chance to win a lot going forward. But it’s more of a decision than just which player do you want to go with? There’s a whole team here, there’s a lot more that goes into it and these three losses that we’ve had in a row, the answer good or bad, is not just the quarterback.”
At this point, the Bay Area media is speculating that Garoppolo might be physically more able to start on Sunday, October 24. Previously, Shanahan has said that despite Lance’s fill in last Sunday that Garoppolo will remain the starting quarterback once he’s recovered from injury.
