San Francisco 49ers kicker David Akers revealed Thursday he has been dealing with the lingering effects of a hernia surgery throughout most of the season.
According to Eric Branch of the San Francisco Chronicle, Akers underwent double sports hernia surgery last February. He had the issue flare up again during the season requiring him to seek further treatment from the doctors that performed the procedure. In November, Akers traveled back to Philadelphia and took injections to try and lessen the discomfort.
“I worked real hard to rehab, to get back, to have a great training camp and be strong through that and things kind of went up and down,” Akers said. “It seemed I’d have a good game, then I’d miss on the next game, we’d have a situation where we’d get a block or I’d miss a long field goal. It seemed like I could never get the consistency where we wanted it to kind of get the snowball in a good direction.”
Akers’ struggles led the 49ers to sign Billy Cundiff earlier this week to compete for the kicking duties entering the postseason. Akers and Cundiff squared off in practice for the first time Thursday. The 49ers have the week off as they wait to find out who their first opponent will be after earning a first-round bye by winning the NFC West.
Akers said he hasn’t been told whether it will be him or Cundiff getting the game action when they take the field next week.
“I have no idea,” Akers said. “Listen, that’s management’s decision. I’m here until they tell me otherwise.”