Trey Lance Might Recover in Time to Return This Season

Frankly, if Lance makes a full recovery while the season is still going, he should play no matter what.

Grant Cohn | Sep 20, 2022

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San Francisco 49ers

Don't shut the door on the possibility that Trey Lance could return this season.

A foot and ankle surgeon who's a consultant for the Los Angeles Rams spoke to the San Francisco Chronicle and said that both Lance's broken ankle and ligament disruption could be fully healed in 10 to 12 weeks. Which means theoretically Lance could be ready to play by Week 12 when the 49ers host the Minnesota Vikings.

Of course, it's important to note that the 49ers have that Lance is done for the season, so perhaps they don't want him to return this season even if he does make a full recovery. Maybe they want to put him on ice until next season.

But what if December comes, the 49ers are in a playoff race and Garoppolo is struggling? He didn't play particularly great on Sunday -- he passed for just 54 yards in the second half. Plus he had no offseason to prepare. There's no reason to think he'll improve.

Or what if Garoppolo gets injured again? All of Shanahan's quarterbacks on the 49ers get injured, and Garoppolo has missed games every season except 2019. If Garoppolo goes down and Lance is healthy, would Shanahan keep Lance on the Injured Reserve List and make Brock Purdy the quarterback?

Frankly, if Lance makes a full recovery while the season is still going, he should play no matter what. Because unless Garoppolo starts completing passes down the field at an acceptable rate, he'll never win a Super Bowl. Lance's ability to throw deep will give the 49ers a real chance to win a Super Bowl. He could be their savior this season.

What an interesting plot twist.

Published Sep 20, 2022

GRANT COHN

Grant Cohn has covered the San Francisco 49ers daily since 2011. He spent the first nine years of his career with the Santa Rosa Press Democrat where he wrote the Inside the 49ers blog and covered famous coaches and athletes such as Jim Harbaugh, Colin Kaepernick and Patrick Willis. In 2012, Inside the 49ers won Sports Blog of the Year from the Peninsula Press Club. In 2020, Cohn joined FanNation and began writing All49ers. In addition, he created a YouTube channel which has become the go-to place on YouTube to consume 49ers content. Cohn's channel typically generates roughly 3.5 million viewers per month, while the 49ers' official YouTube channel generates roughly 1.5 million viewers per month. Cohn live streams almost every day and posts videos hourly during the football season. Cohn is committed to asking the questions that 49ers fans want answered, and providing the most honest and interactive coverage in the country. His loyalty is to the reader and the viewer, not the team or any player or coach. Cohn is a new-age multimedia journalist with an old-school mentality, because his father is Lowell Cohn, the legendary sports columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle from 1979 to 1993. The two have a live podcast every Tuesday. Grant Cohn grew up in Oakland and studied English Literature at UCLA from 2006 to 2010. He currently lives in Oakland with his wife.