PHILADELPHIA — Chants of “PUR-DY! PUR-DY!” rained down from jubilant 49ers fans in the stands as Brock Purdy triumphantly ran off Lincoln Financial Field in December 2023.
Only 10 months earlier, Purdy felt “shocks” of pain in his right elbow, unable to throw because of a shredded ligament in an NFC Championship Game loss that ended the 49ers’ Super Bowl bid and cast his career in peril.
The thrill of victory, the agony of defeat. Which is next for Purdy in Philly?
Sunday’s wild-card playoff game between the No. 6-seed 49ers (12-5) and the No. 3-seed Eagles (11-6) could again hinge on Purdy’s arm — and legs, brain, “Dougie” dance moves, or any other intangible to keep a most improbable season afloat.
“Obviously, I’m thankful to be able to have healed up from the injury, go to the Super Bowl and have three more seasons after what had happened there,” Purdy said Thursday. “But more than anything, it’s our 2025 season and trying to finish strong and go in and compete against a new team.”
This 49ers season, regardless of how many wins or losses or injuries, figured to put scrutiny on Purdy’s earning power courtesy of a May extension for five years and $265 million.
And his surgically repaired elbow became a distant afterthought once he sustained a turf-toe injury in the season-opening win at Seattle. It sidelined him for the next two games and clearly impacted his mechanics when he rushed back in Week 4 against Jacksonville, resulting in a six-game hiatus afterward.
“Earlier in the year, with his toe, there were some things that affected him, more of his lower body,” offensive coordinator Klay Kubiak said of Purdy’s arm. “His arm looks as strong and as powerful as it’s been his whole career.”
Purdy matched his career-best totals from 2023 this season with a 69.4 completion percentage and 7.0% touchdown rate. Despite his toe issues, Purdy’s enhanced mobility out of the pocket resulted in just 11 sacks for a career-low 3.7% of his dropbacks.
He has thrown 20 touchdown passes against 10 interceptions on 284 passes, a year after he threw 20 touchdowns and 12 interceptions on nearly twice as many attempts (455).
“He’s a winner. He’s won everywhere he went,” Eagles coach Nick Sirianni said. “He does a good job with the system, has an ability to extend plays and find guys who are open. He’s tough.”
Back on Jan. 29, 2023, the Eagles braced for Purdy to make a difference in the NFC Championship Game.
“We were putting him in that (Patrick) Mahomes category, in terms of keeping plays alive,” said Kyzir White, a linebacker on the 2022 Eagles who just signed this week with the 49ers. “His draft status and everything like that can get overblown, ‘Seventh rounder,’ but he’s a heck of a player. I got to play against him more being in the division (the past two seasons) with the Cardinals. He’s a great player. He can do it all.”
Once Haason Reddick of the Eagles hit Purdy’s right elbow only six snaps into the 49ers’ opening series, however, Purdy couldn’t throw more than a couple yards. After backup QB Josh Johnson exited with a third-quarter concussion, Purdy soldiered back into the game for 16 helpless snaps in the 31-7 rout.
Forty days later, the 49ers’ franchise quarterback would undergo surgery to repair his ulnar collateral ligament, once its swelling subsided.
“You tear your UCL, the ligament that you use as a quarterback, as a thrower, obviously you start thinking about your future,” Purdy said. “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?’”
A smooth recovery process had Purdy back in the starting lineup for the 2023 opener, and he remarkably showed his rookie season was no flash in the pan. Purdy threw nine touchdown passes and no interceptions as the 49ers started 5-0. He set a franchise record with 4,280 yards ahead of a playoff run that ultimately ended in a Super Bowl LVIII overtime defeat to Kansas City.
Days before that crushing Super Bowl finale in Las Vegas, Purdy reminisced about his “long process” back from that career-threatening hit in Philly.
“I’m not going to lie, I was still strengthening my arm as the season started,” Purdy said Feb. 7, 2024, at the 49ers’ Lake Las Vegas hotel. “I was dealing with it, but felt good enough to play and play Week 1. The rest is history.”
Purdy was never known for having a bazooka arm. But his 2023 comeback saw him lead the NFL in deep throws of 20-plus yards with a 63.8 completion percentage on such passes, scoring a 99.9 grade from Pro Football Focus.
Three years later, is his arm actually stronger? Purdy called it a “tricky” question.
“I’d like to think so,” Purdy said. “Honestly, I don’t know the answer to that. 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.”
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Only seven starters remain from the 2022 49ers’ painful NFC Championship Game visit: Purdy, Kittle, Kyle Juszczyk, Christian McCaffrey, Trent Williams, Jake Brendel and Deommodore Lenoir. That group, along with seven others, is all who remain from the December 2023 blowout win in Philadelphia.
“Obviously, we know Philly from being there and their environment, their fans, all those things,” Purdy said. “It’s getting prepared for that right now rather than having flashbacks or anything like that. 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.”
On to the divisional round, perhaps.
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