Getty Brock Purdy on January 22, 2023 in Santa Clara.
The good news so far for fans of the San Francisco 49ers monitoring Brock Purdy: He’s already expected to throw the ball sooner than expected.
But was there other good news attached to the quarterback who helped guide the Niners to the NFC title game?
Doctor Jess Flynn helped raise the level of good news with this major prediction with The 33rd Team on Sunday, June 4.
“When he does come back, studies show that you should expect a similar level of play compared to before the injury,” Flynn shared in speaking with former 49ers assistant and NFL head coach for the Detroit Lions Marty Mornhinweg.
Does Purdy’s Ailment Coincide What Pitcher’s Go Through With Elbow Ailments?
Important to note that Flynn has a bevy of experience with NFL injuries. After all, she’s worked with multiple NFL teams involving various injuries and has more than 15 years as a sports medicine physician.
When Purdy went down with his elbow injury in the NFC Championship game loss to the Philadelphia Eagles, there were some thoughts by fans and analysts that Purdy may need Tommy John surgery to repair his elbow — a common surgery for pitchers in the MLB, college or high school. Purdy ended up needing surgery to repair an ulnar collateral ligament in his throwing elbow.
Did Flynn correlate Purdy’s injury to a pitcher?
“Interestingly, in pitchers, when they have [any] kind of surgery on their Ulnar Collateral Ligament(UCL), they usually get better,” Flynn said. “That’s because their injuries tend to be over time where the ligament slowly tears. So, they’ve been playing with this crap ligament for a long time, they get it replaced with something real and suddenly, their fastball is much faster.”
Is it similar for a quarterback like Purdy, though, according to Flynn’s research and expertise?
“Not the case with a quarterback with an acute injury, but you should expect to get that same level of play,” Flynn said.
This has to be welcoming for the 49er fans on pins and needles hoping they see a healthy “Mr. Irrelevant” for the 2023 season. It ensures not only depth in the QB room, but Flynn’s update points to Purdy not losing his throwing motion or touch at QB, creating a highly-anticipated competitive battle for QB1 in the Bay Area involving he and Trey Lance.
49ers Assistant Lays Out Where Purdy Must Improve
Meanwhile, once Purdy is cleared and ready to throw, where must he improve per his quarterbacks coach Brian Griese?
“Every part of his game,” Griese said Thursday, June 1 via NBC Sports Bay Area after organized team activities in Santa Clara. “I think that when you’re thrown into the fire, there’s a lot that you learn on the fly, and there’s a lot of things that we all saw that he does really well. His composure, his accuracy, his escape-ability.”
There’s other areas where the second-year QB coach hopes to see growth from Purdy.
“I’d love to see him continue to grow in every aspect of playing quarterback, and that’s timing, it’s rhythm, it’s accuracy, it’s reading defenses, it’s playing from the pocket, limiting turnovers, giving our team the best chance to win,” Griese said.
