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The San Francisco 49ers had to make the trip to Green Bay with Brock Purdy injured, but they took an unusual step beforehand.
Purdy has been dealing with a shoulder injury this past week and was ruled out on Friday before the battle with the Packers. While he underwent a typical MRI early in the week, FOX Sports insider Jay Glazer revealed that the team had him undergo a second MRI afterward.
“Tuesday, Wednesday, practice. They thought he was tracking on the right pace there. And then, Thursday, went out and tried to throw. It just locked up on him,” Glazer said on November 24. “So, what nobody knows is they gave him another MRI on Thursday, but it didn’t really show anything else. So they’re kind of living with a question of when he’s going to come back there. They’re going to just try and rehab it, hope he comes back next week. They just don’t know right now.”
Essentially, the 49ers are still trying to determine what the issue is. Considering that the injury happened in the loss to the Seattle Seahawks and is now a week old, it’s not a positive that Purdy is unable to throw correctly and San Francisco still doesn’t know the exact issue.
Sports Medicine Specialist Explains Second MRI
After Glazer’s update began making the rounds, there was plenty of chatter and speculation about Purdy’s situation. However, there is one piece of analysis that is worth considering.
Dr. Nirav Pandya is a professor and director of sports medicine for Benioff Children’s Hospital. Pandya provided some context on the Niners QB’s MRIs in a November 24 post on X.
“In general, patients will sometimes first obtain an MRI without “dye” (i.e. contrast) injected into the joint to look for structural injury. If pain does not resolve, occasionally a second MRI with contrast injected into the joint can be performed to look for more subtle pathology in the shoulder or a 2nd non-contrast MRI may be done if new symptoms develop. This may explain why there were 2 MRI’s done in close succession,” Pandya wrote.
The key phrase in that post is “if new symptoms develop.” Purdy was obviously feeling good enough to finish practice on Tuesday and Wednesday, but it must have been a significant change in feeling for him to leave practice on Thursday and then get a second MRI.
49ers QB Misses First Start Since Taking Job
If nothing else, Purdy has been a reliable starter for San Francisco. After becoming the starting QB in Week 14 of 2022, the former Iowa State Cyclone had not missed a single start before this week.
His most notable injury, a UCL tear in the 2023 NFC Championship game, occurred after he made four passes. While the 49ers lost the contest, he had all offseason to recover. With his shoulder injury, he’s out of commission in a critical time for San Francisco’s season.
It’s a difficult situation for the Niners and head coach Kyle Shanahan to navigate. On the one hand, San Francisco will likely need Purdy if they want to have a chance at the playoffs. On the other, it would be disastrous to rush him back and then aggravate the injury further.
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