Photo Credit: Chris Mezzavilla
That’s not what you want to hear. Trey Lance finished Sunday’s game after sustaining what was initially thought to be a finger jam on the third-to-last play of the first half. Lance had grimaced, holding either his right thumb or index finger, but then finished out the waning seconds of the half and threw the ball once.
Lance said after the game that he wasn’t too concerned.
“I think I jammed it on a helmet or something,” Lance said. “But no, I’m not worried about it. See how it feels tomorrow, for sure. I think it will tell a little bit more, but yeah, not too worried about it at all.”
According to head coach Kyle Shanahan, who also didn’t express much concern after the game, Lance sustained a “micro chip” on one of his throwing fingers, but declined to say which one. The injury, at least right now, is not going to be addressed surgically, and Shanahan said he expects Lance out for seven days.
“It’s a micro chip of a bone that’s off,” Shanahan said. “He chipped it, which is a small chip fracture, which is worse than a jam. That’s why it’s not going to just heal on its own — he can’t take snaps and do all that stuff right now so we just got to rest it for seven days they say and that should make it heal and hopefully he’ll be good next Monday when we get into practice.”
Thanks to the lack of a fourth preseason game, the 49ers will have two full weeks to prepare before their season opener away against the Detroit Lions, meaning Lance may be able to get a week of practice in before that game, if the injury heals properly
Shanahan said at the end of his Monday press conference that he wants to ensure that Lance, after dealing with a canceled season last year, never misses another year of football.
He was asked about the challenge of wanting to ensure Lance gets playing time, while also making sure the team is earnestly competing for a Super Bowl; Shanahan provided a fairly honest answer.
“That’s why I tried to make it start with, ‘What gives you the best chance to win?’ That’s kind of what you owe to an organization, that’s what you owe to your building, that’s what you owe to all the players and coaches on the team who are grinding every single week,” Shanahan said.
“And if you’re not, I don’t feel like you’re being fair to people. I always try to look at everything as wins and losses depend on where you’re telling your kids are going to school at the end of the year, and that’s a big deal to everybody; to families and to the individual. And so you always try to think of, when it’s your decision hey, what helps us win?
“At the same time, I get spending the draft picks to get a young quarterback and you got to do what’s right for that guy too. I think what’s been tough for Trey is, he didn’t get to play football last year. So regardless of what happens, I’m always trying to make sure that Trey doesn’t go a whole ‘nother year without playing football. We’re gonna make sure that we do what’s best for him, getting him reps on the practice field, hopefully in games too, and we’ll see how this all pans out.
“But my order of thinking always starts with what’s best for this organization, what gives the organization best chance to win. And then after that, I’m always thinking of individual.”
The 49ers’ season opener is a 10 a.m. PT game against Detroit on September 12.