49ers' Brock Purdy 'Cleared Without Restrictions' for Camp Amid Injury Rehab, GM Says

Brock Purdy is good to go.

The San Francisco 49ers quarterback has been cleared to practice with the team during training camp after having offseason surgery to repair the UCL in his throwing elbow.

It means Purdy will avoid the physically unable to perform list and will give him the chance to get first-team reps in this summer. If he had started the season on the PUP list, he would have been required to miss at least the first four games of the 2023 campaign.

Purdy is ahead of schedule. After having surgery in late February, he was expected to have a recovery timeline of about six months, or sometime in August. His July return puts him about a month ahead of schedule.

The 23-year-old had an eventful rookie season in 2022.

After being the team's seventh-round pick, he found himself as the third-stringer behind former first-round pick Trey Lance and longtime veteran Jimmy Garoppolo. After both suffered season-ending injuries, however, Purdy was thrust into the starting spot and thrived, throwing for 1,374 yards, 13 touchdowns and just four interceptions while completing 67.1 percent of his passes.

The Niners went 5-0 in his regular season starts and he eventual led them to the NFC Championship Game. He was knocked out in that contest, a 31-7 Eagles win, and his status for the upcoming season was in question.

What isn't, however, is his place on the depth chart, even with Lance still wearing a Niners uniform.

"I think Brock has earned the right with the way he played that he's probably the leader in the clubhouse at that," general manager John Lynch told reporters in early April when asked about the pecking order at quarterback. "I'll let Kyle [Shanahan] make those kinds of decisions, but I know when we talk, Brock has probably earned that right to be the guy. If we were to line up, he'd probably take that first snap."

Barring another injury or a tremendous training camp from Lance, Purdy is going to be the guy in San Francisco.