San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy suffered a torn ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow during the NFC Championship game that will keep him out for six months, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter.
Purdy suffered the injury during the first quarter of the 49ers loss to the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday, and based on the reported timeline he could return around the start of the team’s training camp, or a few weeks into it.
“My arm felt like it stretched out,” Purdy said following the game, according to ESPN’s Nick Wagoner. “I felt really just like a lot of shocks all over from my elbow down to my wrist, front and back. Just pain really, all over.”
The team and Purdy will determine if surgery is needed, and it will depend on a number of factors such as the degree of the tear and whether it is complete, the presence of instability at the elbow and functionality, according to ESPN’s injury analyst Stephania Bell.
Should surgery be required, Purdy may face either a full UCL reconstruction with a tendon graft, otherwise known as Tommy John surgery, or a surgical repair of the damaged ligament, which could be a surgical UCL repair augmented with an InternalBrace.
