Getty Images

49ers pass rusher Dee Ford might require surgery on his left knee, but that will have to wait until the offseason. Ford said he can manage through the season.

“I had to deal with it last year, too,” Ford said Tuesday, via Matt Maiocco of NBCSportsBayArea. “I didn’t expect it to come back this soon, but it’s nothing I can’t take. I’ve been through worse.”

Ford played through knee tendinitis and irritation to his quadriceps last season while also dealing with a torn groin from Week Three on, he said. Ford did not miss any games, playing 86.8 percent of the Chiefs’ defensive snaps, while registering a career-high 13 sacks.

Ford, who has two sacks in three games with the 49ers, did not play in the preseason and has played only 41.9 percent of the team’s defensive snaps so far this season. The team listed him as questionable in the game status reports for each of the first three games.

Doctors will re-evaluate his knee issue at the end of the season.

“We’ll go further once we get done at the end of the year,” said Ford, who tore a medial collateral ligament in his left knee in 2013 while at Auburn. “We’ll see what we have to do. We’ll have to do something, of course. This is nothing that’s going to hinder me this year. I’ve been through worse.”