49ers quarterback Brock Purdy was supposed to have surgery on Feb. 22 to either repair or reconstruct his torn UCL. The day before his surgery, news broke that his procedure would be delayed until at least early May. General manager John Lynch on Tuesday provided some clarity on that decision-making process.
While the 49ers would like to have Purdy back as quickly as possible, Lynch from the NFL combine said the long-term view was important when considering all options with the elbow surgery. He also indicated Purdy’s surgery would happen during the first week of March.
“That’s a tough decision to make, but I really appreciate the courage and the conviction to make that decision,” Lynch said. “It’s all about the best outcome. Is it ideal? No, for a variety of reasons, time being number one you want every waking minute that you have, but ultimately, he’s 22 years old. We want the best outcome. And that’s where Dr. Meister made a really tough decision and we’re very appreciative. And he’s done thousands of these surgeries and when you have all the swelling out, when you have all the stiffness out, is when he’s had the best success with the outcomes. And so, we’re very thankful and we’re hopeful that when they meet down in Arizona this week they can move forward and then it would be early next week as to when they would go in there and have the surgery.”
The estimated timelines for return have been pretty consistent. If Purdy needs a repair, his timeline for return is slated for six months. If he needs a reconstruction it would likely be a 9-to-12 month recovery timeline.
Lynch said at the combine that the team won’t ultimately determine a timeline until after the surgery is performed since the way Purdy tore his UCL is atypical.
“There’s a variety of different timeframes and Dr. Meister had a great line that I can’t share with you, but it was very clever just about how he doesn’t have a crystal ball and every player’s different,” Lynch said. “Every person’s different, so timelines are just that, they’re guidelines, but we’ll see. The reality is the majority of these are done on baseball players. This is not a baseball injury. Even the way in which it happened, Brock’s going to throw on and a 250-pound man with an opposing force, it’s a different injury and so, the outcomes are different and we’ll see where it goes.”
Now the team is up against the clock with trying to get him back for the start of the regular season and determining what they need to do to fill out their QB room in free agency, which begins March 13.
While this season will surely be front of mind for the 49ers, there’s a chance Purdy is their franchise QB. That’s why the long-term view is so important, and the team appears ready to let doctors take whatever time they need to ensure whenever Purdy does return he’s doing so at full strength with minimal risk of re-injury.
