San Francisco 49ers QB Brock Purdy claims his throwing arm looks ‘robotic’ after elbow surgery as he bids his NFL return by the start of the 2023 season
Niners quarterback Brock Purdy expects to throw a football by June and could be on track to practice with few restrictions when the San Francisco 49ers open training camp in late July.
Purdy, 23, had surgery earlier this month to repair the torn ulnar collateral ligament in his right arm, but 49ers general manager John Lynch said the sophomore quarterback would be lined up to start when the season closes. would start now.
But the problem with judging Purdy in April is that the only real measure of his progress comes when the throwing begins.
“The protocol is you start throwing at three months, but it all depends on how your therapy and your range of motion and everything goes up to that point,” Purdy told San Jose Mercury-News.
“There are definitely some boxes I need to check before I get there, but that’s the plan from now on.”
Brock Purdy went from last pick of last year’s NFL draft to the Niners’ starting QB in less than a year, due in part to injuries suffered by the team’s other QB options
Purdy starts throwing three months after surgery, having repaired his right UCL in early April
Purdy made a stunning rise from last pick in the 2022 NFL Draft to lead the 49ers to the NFC Championship Game.
He said the size of the elbow brace he wears during the early part of his post-surgery rehabilitation makes it look like he has a “robotic arm.”
“When you first get into it after surgery, you’re in it at 90 degrees. From there you can start opening up to help with your range of motion,” Purdy said. “It’s just to keep your arm safe when you’re walking around or doing therapy.” But at night I can take it off and just do some normal movements just by looking at my arm.
“But yes, in public it looks like I have a robot arm.”
When he gets back on the field, he’ll have company in the form of Trey Lance and Sam Darnold, a pair of former No. 3 overall picks, though the Niners copper revealed the former seventh-round pick is likely to start if he’s healthy enough to to be ready for the new season.
The 23-year-old injured his right elbow in a fumble against the Eagles in the NFC title game
And despite being sidelined for a while, Purdy is not distracted by his own personal goal: to return to the NFC Championship Game and prove that last season’s loss would have been a different story had he not been injured on the first drive. touched.
“That’s to get back to the NFC Championship and win the Super Bowl,” Purdy said. “You do have to get past (the injury). But at the same time, you have to remember the things that happen, that make you who you are.
“As for me, I’m not going to let something like that break me down or anything. I’m going to learn from it and we’re going to be better off.’
The 49ers signed Sam Darnold as cover for next season in case the team suffers another year of QB injuries
Lance, the third pick in 2021, started as San Francisco’s starter last season, but suffered a season-ending ankle injury in Week 2.
Darnold signed as an unrestricted free agent after two seasons with the Carolina Panthers, who acquired him from the New York Jets. The Jets drafted Darnold with the third pick in the 2018 draft.
Selected with the 262nd and final pick in the 2022 draft, Purdy emerged as the No. 1 quarterback for the 49ers after Lance and Jimmy Garoppolo went down injured.
He was undefeated in seven games before losing his eighth, the NFC Championship Game, after an elbow injury in the first quarter against the Philadelphia Eagles.