49ers RB Michael Robinson undergoes arthroscopic surgery for torn meniscus

In a less than stellar piece of news, it was announced that Michael Robinson underwent arthroscopic surgery today.  The procedure was designed to repair a torn meniscus in his right knee.  The injury happened when he ran into the back of Chilo Rachal and went down.  He thought he was fine, but clearly that was not that case.  No timetable was given, but Barrows mentioned that it might be a week or two before he gets back on the field.  [EDITOR'S NOTE: MM is now stating Robinson could miss upwards of 3-5 weeks.  That would bring him back right before the start of the regular season.  We'll see what Thomas Clayton does with more preseason carries.  Maybe he squeezes onto the Week 1 roster.  We'll see.]

I tried doing my own research on this type of injury but most everything I found dealt with normal recovery times, and not times for professional athletes.  One interesting tidbit I came across mentioned that LenDale White supposedly played all of 2007 with a torn meniscus.  Although he struggled at times, the Titans back finished with 1,110 yards on the season and claims to be 100% healthy now.  Robinson is not an every down back but as a special teams standout we certainly want him at 100%.  He was not going to pass DeShaun Foster on the depth chart, but you never want a guy missing reps on the field.

In other 49ers injury news, Aubrayo Franklin passed his physical today and was taken off the PUP list.  Also, according to MM, the 49ers are hoping for Ashley Lelie to return later this week and apparently Joe Staley is making his way back tomorrow after missing time with his infected foot.