Dee Ford had "Pretty Extensive Cleanup" to Treat "Severe Tendinitis"

Dee Ford played on one leg in 2019.

Ford, the 49ers' high-priced defensive end, suffered from "severe tendinitis" in his knee all of last season. He chose to play through the injury, but played only 22 percent of the 49ers defensive snaps. And two weeks after the Super Bowl, he had "a pretty extensive cleanup" in his knee to fix some of the damage.

Ford did not explain what the "cleanup" consisted of.

"You see a little bit of that with Todd Gurley," Ford said, "although I don’t know his background or his injury." Gurley has an arthritic knee and no longer is the explosive running back he was just three years ago.

"I’m confident moving forward," Ford said. "I feel great right now. I’m able to actually explode off this knee. Thinking back, I can’t believe I played a whole season on it."

Ford suffered the knee injury during the 2019 offseason and missed most of training camp. He received a Platelet Rich Plasma Injection to reduce the pain, but it didn't help much. Ford couldn't make it through the 49ers second game of the season, and he limped through the rest of the schedule.

So Ford's knee feels much better now. But when will it be 100-percent recovered?

Probably never.

“There’s no real time line," Ford admitted. "Any time you’re dealing with a chronic issue, you’re always on the clock. If I’m able to play, I’m going to play. Right now, I’m just getting as healthy as I can. With everything that’s going on right now, it’s hard to measure the percentage, but I feel great. I know exactly what I felt like last year. Doing the things I’m doing now, it’s like night and day. We’ll play it by ear when everything gets back going. We haven’t really had an offseason. It’s hard to measure exactly where you’re at. We’re going to keep taking this one day at a time and keep getting this thing as strong as I can possibly get it so we can sack some quarterbacks.”