By now, it's no secret that 49ers quarterback Trey Lance has experienced arm fatigue in the past. The topic spurred quite the internet conversation last offseason, and the discussion continues to this day.
But, as coach Kyle Shanahan noted last summer, arm fatigue is nothing out of the ordinary for a signal-caller -- especially one coming into his first NFL training camp and season as a whole, as a rookie Lance was in 2021.
Looking ahead to his third season with the 49ers, Lance addressed the saga during an interview with quarterbacks coach Quincy Avery on "The Q" livestream this week.
"If there's someone out there, a quarterback, who can throw that much ... I threw from May 2020 all the way through that year, draft prep, get drafted the next April," Lance told Avery. "So at that point, I had been throwing for a year straight, and then go through that whole season until the next January.
"So I would say probably about 20 months straight of throwing. Probably a week off in there, maybe. I don't even know if I took a whole week between that whole time."
Avery pointed out that a quarterback throws the football more from his last year of college through his rookie season than he ever will throw in his life, so it makes sense that a young Lance's arm buckled under the weight of all those throws.
But Lance's arm fitness became a hot topic of discussion last offseason when longtime NFL reporter Mike Silver said Lance experienced difficulty throwing on back-to-back days after a big workload.
San Francisco 49ers
Shanahan addressed the report the day before 49ers training camp began this past July, telling reporters "it happened one day in training camp" in 2021.
“But that would be accurate with any quarterback I ever coached. Yeah, guys get arm fatigue at times," Shanahan said at the time. “But Trey’s arm was great all throughout OTAs. It’s been great talking to him through the whole summer. And I expect it to be the best it’s looked when he starts practice tomorrow.”
RELATED: Lance debunks 49ers-Titans trade rumors started by single emoji
Lance was named the starter heading into the 2022 NFL season, but his season-ending ankle injury in Week 2 put a hold on his development.
His arm certainly is much more rested now than it was when he came into the NFL, and the 22-year-old will need all the strength he can get as he looks to earn the starting job over fellow quarterback Brock Purdy in camp this summer.