SANTA CLARA — The 49ers have not yet held their first open practice of training camp, but Brock Purdy is looking like himself according to coach Kyle Shanahan.
“He looks like Brock,” Shanahan said Tuesday. “We don’t get to see a lot because we’re not out there in person with him, but [I saw] the videos he sent me in my 40 days away. And I’m allowed to watch from my [office] window, so I got to see that pretty good this morning.”
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While neither general manager John Lynch nor the head coach would venture so far as to say their young quarterback is "ahead of schedule" from surgery on the ulnar collateral ligament in his throwing elbow, Purdy has been fully cleared and will not start training camp on the physically unable to perform list (PUP).
The 49ers brass, however, is clear its young play-caller will be on a pitch count going forward, and Purdy will not throw three days in a row during camp.
“I always thought in my mind, just so I wouldn’t be disappointed, that it would take a few weeks of camp,” Shanahan said. “But he always looked like he would be ready because you didn’t see any setbacks.”
Both Lynch and Shanahan gave a lot of credit to Purdy’s surgeon, Dr. Keith Meister, as well as the quarterback himself for all of the work he has put in to be ready for training camp. As far as the velocity of Purdy’s throws, they appear up to his 2022 level of ability.
San Francisco 49ers
“I know that data says it,” Lynch said. “The GPS wearables these guys all wear these days, and it’s good.”
Shanahan is pleased his quarterback is set to return on schedule but jokingly was hoping for an even more accelerated and powerful return, as seen in a 1993 film where a 12-year-old baseball player has surgery on his broken arm -- allowing him to throw over 100 miles per hour.
“We are watching him from afar,” Shanahan said. “He is easing into it. We haven’t seen his max velocity, and we aren’t trying to see that yet. It will be back to what it was. I was hoping for a 'Rookie of the Year' type of thing. Remember seeing that movie when you were younger? Just to come back all of the sudden as the fastest on the planet, but I think it’s going to be the same.”
Purdy was on the practice field Tuesday and likely will have Wednesday off before participating with his team during Thursday’s session.