49ers QB Brock Purdy on Injury Recovery amid Rumors: 'I Feel Almost Back to Normal'

San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy is nearly back to 100 percent after undergoing offseason surgery for a torn ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow.

"I feel almost back to normal," he told ESPN's Nick Wagoner. "I feel like I've just got to get into a rhythm and play and go through progressions and just play quarterback."

Head coach Kyle Shanahan echoed those sentiments.

"I'm not thinking about his injury anymore," he said. "We're not worried about Brock. Brock's the real deal. He knows how to play and we've just got to have our team keep getting better and he'll keep getting better as we go."

Purdy, 23, entered the 2022 season as San Francisco's third-string quarterback, but injuries to Trey Lance and Jimmy Garoppolo propelled him into starting duty. The rest is history: The Niners went 5-0 in his regular season starts and reached the NFC Championship Game, where the swarming Philadelphia Eagles' pass rush knocked him out of the game en route to a 31-7 blowout win over the Niners.

This year, Purdy enters the season as the presumed starter, so long as he's healthy, and the Niners have their eyes set on reaching the Super Bowl this season behind one of the most talented rosters in football.

"The bar and the ceiling here is high, and we all expect that out of ourselves," Purdy said. "I have to get better in areas and keep chipping away and keep growing as an offense and keep pushing this offense to get to the level that we want to be."