Purdy prepping for SF opener
QB is watching practice, but eyeing beginning of season
Brock Purdy calmly stood 15 yards behind the line of scrimmage in a T-shirt, tugged his hands on a towel draped around his neck, and listened with his left ear as a play call was radioed to the quarterbacks, a three-man rotation practicing in his place.
Next week, Purdy expects to start throwing a football for the first time since ... the NFC Championship Game loss at Philadelphia, where his arm was struck on the opening series, his UCL was torn, his backup Josh Johnson suffered a concussion, and the 49ers were doomed to a 31-7 postseason exit.
His surgically repaired elbow ligament is getting better by the day, fueling hope he will be ready for the Sept. 10 season opener at Pittsburgh.
“For sure, that's a goal, right? You want to be ready for the season,” Purdy said after Tuesday's spectator session. “If that's the case, great. But we're staying one day at a time and not saying anything we may regret down the road.”
Only 21/2 months ago, Purdy's ulnar collateral ligament was repaired with an internal brace procedure, eliciting a six-month recovery and putting that timeline right in line with the regular season.
Speaking of a timeline ... “It's not really a moving target. It's that only God knows. It's all estimates,” coach Kyle Shanahan said. “We're hoping for Week 1 and I feel pretty optimistic about that . ... Usually you have to come back before that to make that goal, and that's the goal we're hoping for, and I have no reason to think differently.”
A year ago, Purdy entered OTAs as the draft's last pick, and he served mostly as an observer while Trey Lance and Nate Sudfeld took most reps.
Tuesday, Lance was back in that first-team role, followed by veteran challenger Sam Darnold, then a sprinkle of former Bengals backup Brandon Allen. (The 7-on-7 passing stats: Lance was 11-of-15, Darnold 12-of16, Allen 4-of-4.)
Shanahan said Purdy is going through a drill similar to one quarterbacks use to preserve tired arms: grasp a towel and simulate a throwing motion, to work on drop-back footwork in the pocket.
“Brock's healthy in every other aspect,” Shanahan said. “He can't move his arm and put weight on it. To still do drops and footwork, he wouldn't be able to simulate throwing motion, so he uses a towel instead.”
Added Purdy: “Last month or so, it's about regaining strength, doing everything normal now. It's feeling good. I feel I can do everything around the house now.”
Two months ago, general manager John Lynch called Purdy the “leader in the clubhouse” as the 49ers' 2023 starter, and Shanahan echoed that.
Purdy's reaction: “For me, I try to focus on where I'm at now. It's about getting my arm healthy. To say you want to be `this guy' or `this guy' for the team, that's foolish. I'm trying to get my arm right, be around the guys and do what I can to win and get a Super Bowl.”
Once the 49ers' offseason program ends in a month, after a mid-June minicamp, Purdy will continue his rehabilitation in Jacksonville, Florida, with the private quarterback coaches he used a year ago, before he reported to camp looking to “scratch and claw” to make the 49ers. He'll have that same mindset this year, not to make the team but to make the team a Super Bowl contender.
LANCE'S COMEBACK >> Lance said it took until the end of March for him to feel 100 percent recovered, mainly from last September's ankle fracture, but also an August 2021 finger fracture that impacted his grip into last season. While Shanahan said that finger fracture impacted Lance “a ton” for the ensuing year, Lance's passes Tuesday looked like standard operating procedure, as did his footwork without the aid of an ankle brace.
“I honestly don't even feel it or think about it,” Lance said of his right ankle, which required a follow-up procedure Dec. 30 to remove stabilizing hardware. “I'm sure there'll be something as the season comes up -- nothing bad, not missing time, but soreness or things like that -and I'll just continue to work through it, learn as I go and figure out what works best.”