SANTA CLARA, Calif. — San Francisco 49ers rookie quarterback Trey Lance is expected to miss about a week with what coach Kyle Shanahan called a “small chip” in a finger on his right (throwing) hand.
Speaking to Bay Area media Monday, Shanahan revealed that what Lance initially believed was a jammed finger turned out to be a bit more after he underwent additional image testing earlier in the day.
Lance suffered the injury with 15 seconds left in the first half of Sunday’s preseason finale against the Las Vegas Raiders. On the play, Lance threw incomplete down the right sideline but hit his right hand on Raiders linebacker Max Richardson‘s helmet.
Shanahan declined to specify which finger had the “chip,” but Lance was seen favoring his right index finger after the play.
“It wasn’t bothering him much because he thought it was just jammed on that helmet and then when you get all the images on it and they showed it to me, it’s a microchip of a bone that’s off,” Shanahan said. “[It] is a small chip fracture, which is worse than a jam … He can’t take snaps and do all that stuff right now, so we’ve got to just 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.”
Lance was able to stay in the game for the first drive of the third quarter before handing the reins to third-string quarterback Nate Sudfeld. After the game, Lance said he wasn’t even sure which play it happened on but wasn’t too concerned that it was anything serious.
“I think I jammed it on a helmet or something, but I’m not worried about it,” Lance said Sunday. “We’ll see how it feels tomorrow when we can tell a little bit more, but not too worried about it at all.”
Lance is amid an interesting quarterback scenario with incumbent starter Jimmy Garoppolo. Shanahan used Lance and Garoppolo in a sort of platoon in Sunday’s game, a possible precursor to how they might be deployed when the season starts.
In his three preseason games, Lance was 19-of-41 for 276 yards with three touchdowns, an interception and a rushing score.
If Lance can get back by next Monday, he won’t actually miss much in the way of practice. Because there are no longer four preseason games, the Niners have no games until the opener against the Detroit Lions on Sept. 12.
The 49ers will practice Wednesday and Thursday and then have the weekend off before returning to work Monday when the real preparation for the Lions begins.
“We’re just gonna get two good practices in, we’ll work throughout the week so when they come in on Monday, that’s probably when we’ll start giving them some of the game plan,” Shanahan said.