After Peter King reported that NaVorro Bowman needs two hours to get his surgically repaired knee ready for action, the San Francisco 49ers linebacker felt the need to set the record straight.
After reading King’s column, many might have wondered if Bowman might be coming back too soon—a notion he utterly rejects.
“I’m just a perfectionist,” Bowman said (h/t Matt Maiocco of CSN Bay Area). “I like to warm up my leg as much as possible and to go out there and have a perfect practice. If it takes three hours, I’ll take three hours. Some guys take a lot of things out of context. Me coming back early . . . that would have been if I would have come back during the season last year.”
We’re not sure how to take the “out of context” line here, but perhaps Bowman feels King took what he explained out of context.
“Two hours of prep work, daily. Just to be able to practice,” King wrote.
Whatever the case may be, he doesn’t need “two hours” to get ready before every game or practice.
On Thursday at practice in Denver, the 49ers team bus arrived to Broncos team facilities with just 30 minutes to spare before the joint practice was to begin, per Maiocco. Bowman says he didn’t do any prior warmups before getting on the bus, and he was able to practice just fine.
As for where King’s two hour timeframe came from, Bowman explained further:
“I had surgery. It doesn’t feel the same as the other one, so I have to make sure I’m able to do everything I have to before practice starts. That’s where the time frame came from.”
Perhaps 49ers fans can breathe a bit easier after reading this. After all, given the unfathomable amount of talent that has been lost on San Francisco’s roster—one way or another—it would be a true heart-breaker if Bowman isn’t able to put forth the performances that made him great before injuring his knee.
Based on his outstanding preseason debut in Week 2, when he racked up three tackles in three snaps, the 49ers and their fans have nothing to worry about when it comes to “Bow.”