Javon Kinlaw has Knee Surgery

Uh oh.

San Francisco 49ers defensive tackle Javon Kinlaw recently had knee surgery, according to his Instagram account.

Kinlaw had knee tendinitis at the NFL Scouting Combine last offseason, plus he missed the final two games of his rookie season with a knee injury. When a reporter asked John Lynch if that knee injury was related to Kinlaw's tendinitis at the Combine, here's what Lynch said:

"It's just some inflammation in the knee. I think what happened to Javon, if you take back to the Dallas game, it's actually the play when he stripped [Dallas Cowboys QB] Andy Dalton. He's a big man. He came down really hard on his knee and it was a bone bruise, really, is what happened. Just the force of hitting the turf. Felt like we had a chance to get him back that week. The swelling just remained and it was stubborn. Good news at the end of this week, it started to come out, but he had been out of practice so long. It didn't make sense to put him in the last game. So, that's the deal on Javon."

In retrospect, Kinlaw's injury clearly wasn't just a bone bruise or some inflammation in the knee. It was serious enough that it required surgery, however minor it may have been. Surgery still is surgery.

Which means the 49ers knew Kinlaw had a knee issue, and they drafted him anyway, even thought they could have had Tristan Wirfs, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers right tackle who gave up just one sack this season.

Kinlaw finished 2020 with just 1.5 sacks and 4 quarterback hits in 14 games.