“One thing I learned is you never know what these guys’ arms feel like.”
When reports of Trey Lance having arm fatigue surfaced earlier this offseason, Brandon Aiyuk posted a workout video with the 49ers’ QB that was captioned, “Only three throws from the day, his arm got fatigued after that.” Yesterday he said something that seemed to indicate the exact opposite.
Aiyuk was asked about Trey Lance struggling in practice Sunday following a much better day on Saturday. After talking about Lance’s even-keeled personality, he said this:
“One thing I’ve learned is that you never know what these guys’ arms feel like. The same way for us. We go out there, some days our legs are tired. They may expect us to break out a route and come out of our breaks a lot faster than we did and our legs are a little bit tired and we can’t do so. Same thing for them, we feel like, is something that I learned. I can see that you never know what those guys arms are feeling like. They’re coming out here and throwing a bunch of balls, so… We just got to look at it, get it corrected, and then come back, get the day off, and get better.”
Whether you call it arm fatigue, dead arm, or some other name, it appears that something is different about Trey Lance’s throws from day to day.
To be fair, Mike Silver and Colin Cowherd said Lance actually had to miss practices last year with a tired arm, but Trey hasn’t missed any practices so far in training camp this year.
Kyle Shanahan didn’t deny the story last month, but he did say it has happened to other quarterbacks he’s worked with.
“I think it happened one day in training camp last year, but that would be accurate with every quarterback I’ve ever coached. So yeah, guys sometimes get arm fatigue, but Trey’s arm was great throughout all of OTAs. It’s been great talking to him through the whole summer, and I expect it to be the best that it’s looked tomorrow when we practice. But for a report to come out about a guy’s arm soreness, I get it. There could be a report about every quarterback I’ve ever coached, though, too, but no, I think we’re alright with his arm soreness.”
It’s one thing for someone (or multiple people) to report Lance has arm fatigue. It’s another thing entirely for the receiver that has worked with Trey more than anyone else on the team to say, “You never know what those guys’ arms are feeling like,” and compare it to fatigue in a receiver’s legs.
You can decide for yourself what to believe, of course. Maybe Trey has just been throwing a lot in a short period of time without the benefit of a full week to recover. Ultimately, this may not end up being an issue for the 49ers, but it is something to keep an eye on going forward.
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