Brock Purdy’s torn UCL in the NFC championship game and the ‘what ifs’ that come with it will linger forever in the annals of 49ers history. With Purdy already back under center for training camp though, the injury is in the past for 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan.
Shanahan on Thursday after Purdy practiced after just one day off for the first time in this year’s camp said he’s no longer worried about Purdy’s injury or thinking about it when evaluating the QB’s play.
“Yeah, that’s completely off my mind,” Shanahan said. “He’s healthy. Guys got to get in throwing shape and they got to play and stuff and get used to that. That takes time and stuff. But I’m not thinking about his injury anymore.”
The fact Purdy was cleared to practice for the start of training camp and making it through full practices pain free is a pretty significant accomplishment. Initially the team was just hopeful he’d be back in enough time to prepare for Week 1. Now he’s going to get virtually a full training camp in.
While Shanahan may not be thinking about the injury anymore, he’s cognizant of Purdy’s offseason and the lack of work he got while rehabbing his surgically repaired throwing elbow. Purdy is still knocking off rust, but Shanahan expressed confidence that the QB will be back to normal when the team kicks off the regular season in Pittsburgh.
“I don’t think anyone’s back to where they were exactly last season,” Shanahan said. “We’re going through training camp, a lot of guys had more practices than him, but we only had six in OTAs. But he’ll get there. He’s doing some good things. They’re all doing some good, all doing some bad. But we’re not worried about Brock. Brock’s the real deal. He knows how to play and we’ve just got to have our team keep getting better and he’ll keep getting better as we go.”
So far in camp Purdy has received every first-team rep on days he’s practiced. He’s going to be their starter based on his undefeated regular-season record last season and the 33.5 points per game they scored from Week 13 on.
Now that his injury is behind him the club is going to give him every opportunity to at least reach the level he was playing at last year in hopes that their bet on Mr. Irrelevant eventually turns into a sixth Lombardi Trophy.
