49ers’ Ford says he had knee surgery.
After Dee Ford limped through last season while missing considerable time with knee troubles, the 49ers pass rushing star revealed Friday he took a huge step toward solving his injury woes.
Unfortunately for the 49ers, it involved Ford needing “pretty extensive” arthroscopic knee surgery two weeks after the Super Bowl.
“I had a severe case of tendinitis. With my position, that’s a blown tire,” Ford said Friday morning on a Zoom call with reporters.
And, while Ford told reporters the procedure has left him feeling great, he admitted he isn’t sure when he’ll be able to play.
“There’s no real time line. Any time you’re dealing with a
chronic issue, you’re always on the clock,” he said. “If I’m able to play; I’m going to play. Right now, I’m just getting as healthy as I can.
“I’m confident moving forward. I feel great right now. I’m able to actually explode off of this knee. Thinking back on it, I can’t believe I played a whole season on it. We knew at the end of the day, what we had to do, had to be surgical. But I didn’t want to miss the season. We had too much going on. I didn’t want to miss that. It’s in the bag now. I’m confident in that.”
That’s the good news for the 49ers, who could use a resurgence by Ford, whose base salary of $13.6 million makes him their second-highest paid player behind Jimmy Garoppolo and his $23.8 million salary.
The 49ers were only able to use Ford on 22% of their defensive snaps after acquiring him from the Chiefs before last season. Ford, who also missed five games with hamstring issues with his left leg, was able to manage 6.5 sacks while playing parts of 11 games. He owned the highest sack rate in the league among players with at least 100 rushes.
Ford also played a key role in transforming San Francisco’s defense by freeing up rookie Nick Bosa and Arik Armstead for pressure opportunities. The Niners finished tied for fifth in the league with 48 sacks and sixth with 27 takeaways a year after having only 37 sacks and generating a record-low seven takeaways.
Ford missed most of 2019 training camp and then needed a platelet-rich plasma injection in his troubled left knee to help with the pain. But Ford’s pain persisted throughout his season and limited his availability. In the games he was able to suit up, Ford still averaged just 18 snaps after a season-high 40 snaps in the opener.
49ers general manager John Lynch said shortly after the season Ford’s troubles wouldn’t require surgery.
But Ford was soon after in Florida, where Dr. James Andrews was performing his knee cleanup.