Prior to the season, the San Francisco 49ers team was counting days in great anxiety regarding the starting spot of the team following a disastrous injury of their veteran player Brock Purdy.
On March 10, Purdy underwent surgery to repair the ruptured ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow, endangering his teams’ hope. Fortunately, just before the regular season, they got a green signal from the veteran player about his comeback on the field.
Brock Purdy is back in NFL training camp after UCL surgery
Brock was not really anticipated to take back the starting role for at least the initial part of the season after suffering an elbow injury in November. Following the 49ers’ offseason program, the 23-year-old made a trip to Jacksonville to undergo rehabilitation under the guidance of private quarterbacks coach Will Hewlett and sports performance specialist Tom Gormely.
He had reportedly put himself on track after going through rehab, and a comeback perhaps late in training camp had been expected. The quarterback has now been given the all-clear to practice when the club gets back to on-field training on Wednesday following a six-month rehabilitation period.
The general manager John Lynch deemed him ready to go after putting the player through a heavier workload in front of himself and head coach Kyle Shanahan. Additionally, they could stick to a pitch count that involves two days of pitching and one day of rest in order to be more assured about getting Purdy back on the field.
No surprise here. Brock Pardy is a stud! Not bad for a 3rd string QB huh? #FTTB #wildcardweekend #SEAvsSF #NFL https://t.co/sQbO0Nr0uQ
— Shane Morgan 🫐 (@SugarShane_NL) January 15, 2023
“Brock is cleared and ready to go,” Lynch said. “Having said that, we’re sticking and we’re adhering to a plan that’s been put in place for some time.”
Though the Queen Creek native, is now anticipated to be fully healthy, the head coach claimed that they would not put too much pressure on him in the interim, thus they chose not to have him play three days in a row.
“He will [be with the starters] when he’s out there,” Shanahan said. “The throwing plan’s a little different. We’re never going to have him go three days in a row.”
How did Brock Purdy perform last year as 49ers main QB?
In 2022, Purdy was selected by the Niners with the 262nd overall pick in the draft, coming close to going undrafted. In just one season with the team, he demonstrated his worth.
After Garoppolos’ injury on December 4, he made his starting debut. In his first season, he led the San Francisco offense to unprecedented levels by winning all seven of his starts, including two postseason contests.
With the Niners, ‘Mr. Irrelevant’ sailed for 1374 yards and 13 touchdowns in a single season. For the second successive year and the third time in four seasons, under his leadership, his club made it to the NFC Championship Game.
Since being selected, Brock has been put through many challenges and he has passed pretty much all of them. It will be interesting to see if he can maintain such a form going forward!
