Matthew Stafford held the title of the most talked-about elbow last offseason. The 2023 King of The Elbow will undoubtedly be Brock Purdy.
The San Francisco 49ers QB's UCL surgery, stemming from the injury suffered in the NFC Championship Game, was delayed once but ultimately successful. The question is whether Purdy's elbow will be ready in time to compete with Trey Lance and Sam Darnold for starter reps in training camp.
Last week, Kyle Shanahan's response to the question of when Purdy might be ready essentially boiled down to "Check back in June."
Joining the Roc and Manuch with Jimmy B show on FOX Sports 910 Phoenix last week, Purdy reiterated that he wouldn't know how rehab is going until he hits the three-month benchmark to begin throwing.
"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 until that point," Purdy said, via the Mercury News. "There are definitely some boxes I have to check off first before I get to that point, but that's the plan as of now."
The 49ers QB noted that he's already undergoing rehab with physical therapist Keith Kocher, a "baseball guy" in Arizona.
Purdy is wearing a large elbow brace designed to allow movement to ensure his arm retains mobility post-surgery, whereas a layperson would typically be in a cast. The young QB noted that the brace makes it appear he has a "robotic arm."
"When you first get in it after surgery, you're in it at 90 degrees. From there, you can start opening it up to help with your range of motion," Purdy said of the brace. "It is just to keep your arm safe when you're out walking around or doing therapy. But at night, I can take it off and just do some normal motions with just looking at my arm.
"But yeah, out in public, it looks like I have a robotic arm."
The Niners brass openly admitted that the former seventh-round pick has a leg up on the starting gig over Lance if he's healthy enough to be ready for the season. At this point, we won't know whether he'll be cleared before the season or potentially as late as Week 4, given the timeline Shanahan put out last week.
But Purdy's goal is clear: Get back to the NFC Championship Game again and prove last year's loss would have gone differently had he not been injured on the first drive.
"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 sort of remember the things that happen, that make you who you are.
"For me, I'm not going to let something like that tear me down or anything. I'm going to learn from it and we're going to get better."
