On Sunday, San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy will see a sight all too familiar for his young career when his team visits the Philadelphia Eagles in the Wild Card round.
Purdy led the 49ers to the NFC Championship Game as a rookie in the 2022 season, and his successful campaign ended there in Philadelphia after he injured his UCL in his elbow, which required Tommy John surgery. While it has been three full seasons since he came back from the injury, Purdy hasn’t forgotten how much that injury nearly impacted his whole career.
“Yeah,” Purday told reporters on Thursday regarding if he felt his career was in peril. “You tear your UCL, the ligament that you use as a quarterback, as a thrower, obviously you start thinking about your future and things, and coming back from the injury, and it was at the end of the year, so I was questioning will I be back in time, will I be the guy come the start of the season? Stuff like that.”
“So yeah, I feel like in the moment, yes, but now we’re moved on and ready to go,” Purdy added.
Brock Purdy Came Back Strong From Rehab
GettyBrock Purdy had surgery after his elbow injury in 2023 at Philadelphia.
Purdy spent that offseason rehabbing the elbow, and the 49ers brought in veteran Sam Darnold in case the former Mr. Irrelevant wasn’t ready to go by Week 1. The challenges of Tommy John surgery didn’t slow Purdy down, and he returned in time for the 2023 season.
“Just because you get hurt and then you’re trying to rehab to get back to feeling good as a thrower, and it’s always hard to tell like, is my arm stronger or not? I’d like to think so,” Purdy said. “But for me, where I’m at, that was three years ago, so it’s tough to go back and say, ‘alright, my arm is stronger than it was three years ago.’”
“All I know right now is I feel really good with the throws that I can make across the field and taking shots downfield, throwing the ball outside the numbers, you name it. I feel good with where I’m at,” Purdy added. “But, I feel like all the rehab and all the arm care stuff that we do here has allowed me to be at my best right now.”
Brock Purdy Keeps Trending Upward
Purdy’s career has only trended upward since the surgery. He led the 49ers to a 12-4 mark in the 2023 season and became an MVP contender.
San Francisco came up short in the Super Bowl that year, and he had another productive season in 2024 despite a slew of injuries on the roster. His performance led to the biggest quarterback contract in franchise history in 2025.
Purdy again played solid in 2025 and had the 49ers knocking on the door for the No. 1 seed before a loss to the Seattle Seahawks in Week 18. That said, Purdy’s first postseason game in Philadelphia is rather anticlimactic for him when it comes to the past.
“I already went there in 2023 and played after what had happened in ‘22. So, I feel like that’s out of the way and ready to move on,” Purdy said.
49ers’ Brock Purdy Makes Admission on Past Injury Against Eagles