While Brock Purdy’s numbers in his first training camp practice may not have been great, there were two key takeaways that provide a ton of encouragement about the quarterback’s readiness for the regular season.
For Purdy, who’s recovering from offseason surgery on the UCL in his throwing elbow, no news is the best news about his practices. He just needs to be healthy, and he told reporters Thursday he was pain free after his first full day of work.
“So, I’ve actually worked up to this point throwing back-to-back days, you know, have a heavy day of throwing and the next day maybe tune it down a little bit,” Purdy said. “But I’ve worked up to get to this point to where my arm doesn’t hurt or anything like that. Yeah, it might from throwing and stuff, any quarterback would tell you, ‘hey, I’m going to go ice my arm or do whatever with my arm and do treatment on it,’ and that’s where I’m at. And so yeah, to answer your question, it’s not like killing or anything, I’m not going to practice tomorrow or this or that. Arm feels great.”
The second-year QB is on track to practice Friday before the team gets a day off Saturday. It sounds like the plan will be for Purdy to then sit out Sunday’s session before returning for back-to-back practices the following two days.
Throwing pain free isn’t the only box Purdy needs to check though. He has to be able to make all the throws he was making last season en route to a 5-0 record as a starter and a pair of playoff wins.
He said he can make all the throws from all of his different arm angles, and that he doesn’t feel any dip in his velocity.
“Yeah, I’d like to think so,” Purdy said. “You know, throwing go balls and cutting some balls to the sideline, I feel like I have the strength to get it there just like last year. And so, I’m going to continue to try to develop my arm and get it stronger and stronger and go from there.”
Arm strength was never a big part of Purdy’s game so this will be something worthing paying close attention to, particularly in joint practices and preseason games.
Being able to cut the throws loose is great. Now he needs to ensure he’s able to fit throws where he needs to against defenders in a game setting.
Still, there are boxes Purdy won’t be able to check for several weeks. For now his good health and the apparent maintenance of his velocity are two huge positives coming out of his return to practice.
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