The 49ers will wait with bated breath in hopes that a season-altering injury won’t affect next season, too.
Brock Purdy’s elbow injury on a Haason Reddick strip-sack with seven minutes left in the first quarter effectively ended the team’s championship aspirations.
It was initially reported that the team believed it was a nerve injury, with Purdy saying he couldn’t throw the ball more than five-to-10 yards down the field.
He described it as an “extremely painful” injury.
According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, the belief is that Purdy injured his ulnar collateral ligament (UCL). The return timeline is dependent on the severity of the injury.
The main concern with a UCL injury is Tommy John surgery. Former 49ers quarterback Nick Mullens suffered a UCL injury in 2020 and was initially expected to need that surgery.
Doctors later found less damage than initially suspected and Mullens became the first quarterback to repair the injury with an internal brace in his elbow as opposed to full reconstruction. The 49ers will hope for a non-surgical rehab for Purdy.
