The San Francisco 49ers may not play quarterback Brock Purdy during preseason despite head coach Kyle Shanahan admitting it would be helpful for him to feature.
Purdy, 23, underwent offseason surgery after completely tearing the ulnar collateral ligament in his throwing elbow during the Niners' defeat in the NFC Championship Game against the Philadelphia Eagles. Approaching five months after going under the knife, he is now back practising during training camp.
Over the last fortnight, the quarterback has been taking a day off after every two days on the field as the team manages his workload. But playing in the preseason will not necessarily be part of the ramping-up process.
Despite being the only QB solely working with the starters, San Francisco are not short of other options. Trey Lance, Sam Darnold, and Brandon Allen are there to step up in his absence.
That could be the case on Sunday against the Las Vegas Raiders. "I doubt Brock plays," Coach Shanahan told reporters after Monday's practice. "[But] we haven't fully decided it yet."
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Instead, the plan is for Purdy to partake in joint sessions with the Raiders on Thursday and Friday. After playing Las Vegas, the Niners have two other preseason games.
They face the Denver Broncos and the Los Angeles Chargers the following two weekends. Shanahan did clarify that Purdy is "ready now" and explained why they could not play him before Week 1.
Brock Purdy is preparing for the 2023 NFL regular season with the San Francisco 49ers after undergoing surgery on an elbow injury (Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images)"Usually, when we go scrimmage against guys, I rarely play our starters (in the game)," he said. "That's usually my plan going into it because I'm a little more into the practices than the games.
"But I've changed my mind a couple of times, too, based off how those practices go. Usually, that's the plan, but we'll see how these practices go."
However, he did concede that participating in both is usually ideal. "I think it's always good to play [in preseason]," he added. "I don't think (Purdy) has to. A lot of guys don't have to, but it usually helps."
Purdy himself certainly seems mentally over the injury. After having his throwing arm hit during a tackle by defensive lineman Clelin Ferrell at a recent practice, Purdy was unfazed.
“I feel like as a coach, a teammate watching, yeah, they might be scared about that, especially how things ended last year with my arm,” Purdy told reporters in a press conference on Friday.
“But, honestly, for myself, it’s just football. I wasn’t even thinking about it. He hit the ball out of my hand, and I was going through to finish the throw, and the ball ended up being on the ground. It’s football, you know?
“And so, was I mad at Clelin or anything like that? I told him, ‘Dude, it’s football. I get it. We’re in a competing environment. Things happen.’ But for myself, was I scared about it? Was I timid after that? No.”
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