Knee tendinitis for 49ers' Dee Ford, Javon Kinlaw explained by doctor

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The 49ers win in the trenches, but lost their top defensive linemen, DeForest Buckner, when they traded him to the Indianapolis Colts this offseason for the No. 13 overall pick in the 2020 NFL Draft. 

San Francisco then essentially replaced Buckner with its top pick by selecting Javon Kinlaw out of South Carolina. There's just one problem, though. The 49ers now have two key members on their defensive line with knee issues

Dee Ford, who the 49ers acquired from the Kansas City Chiefs before last season for a 2020 second-round pick, was limited throughout last season with knee tendinitis. Kinlaw, who didn't perform at the NFL Scouting Combine and dropped out of the Senior Bowl before the game was played, has dealt with the same ailment. 

“There are athletes all the time, throughout the season, that are dealing with these issues,” Dr. Michael Banffy, an orthopedic surgeon at Cedars-Sinai Kerlan-Jobe Institute in Los Angeles, told the San Francisco Chronicle's Eric Branch. “… I would say 90 percent of the time it’s totally manageable and people don’t have to do anything drastic about this.”

Ford, 29, had a platelet-rich plasma injection in his knee in August. He said last September that he might need offseason surgery, but general manager John Lynch dismissed that notion as recently as February. 

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While no team failed Kinlaw's physical at the combine, NFL Media's Ian Rapoport and Tom Pelisserro reported that multiple teams flagged Kinlaw's knees as "at risk of arthritis."

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Banffy has examined draft prospects at the past four combines and isn't too surprised by the report. 

“I will definitely downgrade them because that means they are probably going to have issues,” Banffy said. “They are probably going to have a little bit of swelling at the knees. They are probably going to need some maintenance on the knees such as injections, and they’re going to be in the training room a little more often.

"So I would give these guys C-minuses. We still take those guys.”

Ford's health last season certainly is cause for concern. When the edge rusher made his first Pro Bowl for the Chiefs in 2018, he played in 87 percent of their defensive snaps. Last year, while only playing 11 regular-season games, Ford was on the field for just 22 percent of the 49ers' defensive snaps, according to Pro Football Reference.

Kinlaw, however, only missed one game from an injury in college. 

[RELATED: Bucs' draft-day trade with 49ers 'overreaction,' exec says]

It's clear with Banffy, it's all about risk vs. reward for teams, and these two extremely talented players easily could be worth the risk. 

“If they are extremely talented, then the risk is worth it,” Banffy said.

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