John Lynch on Thursday gave an update on quarterback Brock Purdy. Sort of.
Purdy underwent surgery to repair the UCL he tore in his throwing elbow during the NFC championship game. While there was a brief setback in his timeline to have the surgery due to some swelling in the elbow, nothing since he finally had the operation has indicated the QB is off track in his surgery.
That’s where Lynch’s non-update update comes in. The 49ers’ general manager on KNBR in San Francisco said the QB is in the building, but awaiting until the 12-week mark post-surgery before throwing again.
“Brock’s here working with his teammates. They’re in phase two.” Lynch said. “He’s not out there throwing yet, That’s gonna happen around Week 12, that’s kind of the next inflection point. But he’s doing really good doing everything that he can do.”
He went on to lay out the timetable, which leaves about four weeks until Purdy can start throwing again.
While it’s a good sign for San Francisco that Purdy hasn’t had any setbacks, this update from Lynch isn’t quite an update at all. It tracks with exactly what the team has laid out since the QB underwent his procedure.
He’d have the surgery, and then he’d return to throwing about 12 weeks after that, with some wiggle room on either side depending on his recovery.
Here’s Kyle Shanahan on February 1 before the surgery even took place:
That was the coolest thing for me to hear about that once three months is over, they start the rehab of just building the arm back slowly, and by six months it’s built back.
Here’s Lynch at NFL owners’ meetings in late March:
We’ll see at 12 weeks; we should be able to give you a little more direction on how he’s tracking.
Lynch’s update Thursday didn’t provide anything new. However, no news is good news on the injury front for Purdy. Once he starts throwing there should be a better idea on when he’ll get back into playing football. Until then the 12-week mark remains the notable point on Purdy’s recovery timeline.
