Trey Lance still plans to be full-go when the San Francisco 49ers kick off organized team activities (OTAs) in May. However, the quarterback wanted to make one correction to his comment last week.
"Probably about three, three-and-a-half weeks out from being totally cleared, from today," Lance told reporters on January 31. "So I feel like I'm in a real good spot, so definitely planning on being 100 percent before OTAs."
Lance's comment may have been misleading.
"I did misspeak when I was doing my exit interviews, and I said that I would be fully cleared in the next three weeks," Lance told Rich Eisen on Wednesday. "But that was cleared to run, not 'fully cleared.' People took that in a very different way, and my [physical therapist] gave me a hard time about it, I'll say that."
#49ers QB @treylance09 on @richeisen and his crew over analyzing his ankle on the @RichEisenShow: "I'll pretend like that's now weird."
— 49ers Webzone (@49erswebzone) February 9, 2023
Lance suffered his season-ending ankle injury on September 18, 2022, undergoing a successful surgery the next day to repair two injuries—a fibula fracture and ligament disruption. He underwent a second surgery in late December to remove hardware inserted into his right ankle. The quarterback revealed that he would begin "fully throwing, back on the field" during the last week of February.
"Like truly taking drops, throwing," Lance said of that timeline. "But it's going to be a process. Ups and downs, and it has been, obviously, with the second procedure and everything like that. But I feel like I'm in a really great spot, and OTAs, I should be fully cleared."