SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Christmas in July? For San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy, that is what Thursday morning felt like, together with some tossing and turning the night time earlier than in anticipation of taking his first reps at coaching camp.
“I used to be excited,” Purdy mentioned. “To finish the yr like we did final yr was heartbreaking. We needed to undergo surgical procedure, rehab within the offseason, lacking OTAs.
“So, simply to have the ability to get out, say a play to my teammates and break a huddle — to me, I used to be so excited interested by that. It is virtually like final night time was like Christmas. You are excited for the subsequent day.”
A bit of over four-and-half months after having surgical procedure to restore a ruptured UCL ligament in his proper elbow, suffered within the opening quarter of the NFC Championship Sport towards the Philadelphia Eagles, Purdy was again winging the soccer like he did as a stunning rookie starter for San Francisco final season.
Purdy accomplished 8 of 17 passes throughout 7-on-7 and group drills, going towards top-of-the-line defenses within the league throughout the road of scrimmage. He threw a choose to security Tashaun Gipson on his second throw of the day, attempting to pressure a ball into a decent window to Brandon Aiyuk.
Whereas these numbers are nothing to jot down residence about, Purdy’s most spectacular throws have been misses. He overthrew Deebo Samuel and Jauan Jennings on go routs that confirmed his arm power has returned.
Purdy additionally made a big-boy throw, finishing a laser on a deep in path to Aiyuk that drew applause from the followers readily available. Purdy dapped up backup quarterback Sam Darnold afterward.
“There’s some rust I nonetheless acquired to knock off,” Purdy mentioned. “I did not get any reps in OTAs with 11-on-11 or 7-on-7. Simply the tempo of the sport — seeing a protection, dropping again and going by way of reads. So right now was good to get on the market, going by way of reads and stuff and letting it rip.”
Trent Williams, Purdy’s blindside protector, had been speaking along with his quarterback all through the method and was not stunned by how he threw the soccer.
“Brock is rock strong mentally,” Williams mentioned. “He would not get annoyed very simply, so he took the entire course of like a champ. If he was going although something, I could not inform personally.”
San Francisco head coach Kyle Shanahan advised reporters earlier than the beginning of coaching camp that Purdy was cleared with out restrictions. Shanahan additionally has former No. 3 total picks in Trey Lance and Darnold working with the quarterback group in camp, together with veteran Brandon Allen. So discovering reps for all 4 quarterbacks whereas getting Purdy prepared for the beginning of the common season shall be a juggling act.
The plan for Purdy is to ease him into apply and maintain him to a pitch rely all through camp. He’ll apply for 2 days straight then take a break day to relaxation his repaired throwing elbow. He didn’t work with the remainder of the quarterbacks on the primary day of coaching camp on Wednesday.
Purdy mentioned Thursday’s apply was a part of a meticulous plan put collectively by San Francisco’s coaching and medical employees, his docs and the QB’s non-public coaching employees that features throwing coach Will Hewlett and orthopedic specialist Tom Gormely of QB Collective in Jacksonville, Florida.
“Proper after surgical procedure, it was do the easy issues,” Purdy mentioned. “Then as soon as I acquired my vary of movement again, it was, ‘All proper, we have a throwing program arising, here is how we will ease into it. And go from there. … We by no means jumped forward of schedule or tried to do something out of the unusual. We had actually good recommendation from these professionals alongside the way in which and slowly acquired to the place we’re at.
“And we nonetheless have a plan to proceed to hold out. It is not, ‘Oh, we made it. We threw in apply and it is over.’ We nonetheless have some stuff to do.”
Will Brock Purdy replicate his rookie season success?
Purdy says he has no limitation to what he can do out on the sphere, and that he could make each throw throughout 11-on-11 work, together with throwing from completely different arm angles. He mentioned he has skilled arm soreness after intense coaching periods like regular quarterbacks do after throwing, however nothing out of the unusual.
Now, the main target throughout coaching camp shall be rising the amount of throws as he works towards doubtlessly beginning Week 1 on the street towards the Pittsburgh Steelers. Purdy mentioned Shanahan has not advised him he is the starter to open the season and that the main target stays on getting higher every day.
“Clearly, what we placed on tape final yr was nice and all,” Purdy mentioned. “However there’s nonetheless a number of areas the place I’ve to get higher and develop. That is simply the place we’re at. We’re not attempting to get to far forward of ourselves.”
Already, nonetheless, the whole lot about this camp is completely different from final yr’s. Because the final choose within the 2022 NFL Draft, Purdy mentioned he acquired two reps every on the finish of every interval because the man on the finish of the depth chart final summer season. On Thursday, he took the lion’s share of the reps with the starters.
In the meantime, Lance, the No. 3 total choice within the 2021 draft, acquired about the identical variety of reps as Allen, the fourth quarterback on the depth chart. Lance threw extra on the aspect staying heat between reps than throughout group intervals.
What a distinction a yr makes.
Eric D. Williams has reported on the NFL for greater than a decade, masking the Los Angeles Rams for Sports activities Illustrated, the Los Angeles Chargers for ESPN and the Seattle Seahawks for the Tacoma Information Tribune. Observe him on Twitter at @eric_d_williams.
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