49ers' Brock Purdy Talks Rookie Season, Injury Rehab and More in B/R Interview

Don't worry, San Francisco 49ers fans.

You weren't alone if you strongly considered not watching the Super Bowl following your team's NFC Championship Game loss to the Philadelphia Eagles.

"Going into the Super Bowl, I was like, 'There's no way I can watch it,'" 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy told Bleacher Report. "But once the game rolled around I was like, 'All right, I've got to. It's going to be a good matchup between the Chiefs and the Eagles.' But just watching the game, the whole time I'm thinking 'that should be us.' We were, I think, a couple plays away from getting there. Just some bad luck with the injuries. It is what it is, that's the sport of football."

Bad luck is something of an understatement.

San Francisco was already facing a daunting task of going on the road to face the top-seeded Eagles and could not afford another injury under center with Trey Lance and Jimmy Garoppolo sidelined.

And that's exactly what happened.

Purdy suffered a UCL injury on the team's opening possession, and journeyman Josh Johnson suffered a concussion later in the game. The 49ers had little choice but to turn back to Purdy, but he could barely throw and the end result was a 31-7 loss to the team that went on to fall to Kansas City in the Super Bowl.

The Iowa State product has since undergone successful surgery to repair his torn UCL.

"It's going good, taking it one day at a time," he said of his rehab process without going into details about a specific timeline. "I'm in really good communication with my team, with the Niners and the doctors who I'm working with."

General manager John Lynch previously told reporters, "Our hope is he's ready to go for training camp." Mike Garafolo of NFL Network reported on March 10 the plan is for Purdy to throw in three months and work his way back from there from a strength perspective.

The injury was an unfortunate end to an incredible first-year journey for Purdy.

San Francisco made him "Mr. Irrelevant" when it selected him with the final pick of the 2022 NFL draft. It figured to be an uphill battle just to make the team, especially since Lance was the franchise quarterback and the 49ers ended up bringing back the veteran Garoppolo as well.

"Last year, my main focus was camp," he said. "How can I get the respect from my teammates and coaches? I just took it one day at a time and tried to make the team. That is where my mindset was at, and everything else sort of fell into place."

That approach helped him make the team, and his chance to make an impact came much sooner than expected.

Lance suffered a season-ending injury against the Seattle Seahawks in the second game of the season, and Garoppolo suffered his own season-ending injury in a December contest against the Miami Dolphins. All hope seemed lost for the Super Bowl contender, but Purdy came into that Dolphins game and threw two touchdowns in a win.

The rest was history.

He went 5-0 in the ensuing five regular-season starts, including a dominant victory over Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in his first start, and ended his rookie season by completing 67.1 percent of his passes for 1,374 yards, 13 touchdowns and four interceptions.

That's not to say there wasn't a welcome to the NFL moment along the way.

"My first start against Tampa Bay, literally the first play of the game, the safety came off the edge and I actually checked into the wrong play," Purdy said. "I got destroyed for it. It was a hard hit, but I got back up and learned from it and we went on and won the game. But that was a moment that showed you've got to be in tune to every play and detail-oriented with everything or else something like that can happen.

"On the positive side, just learning from the mistake and showing the guys I can take something like that and keep rolling with the punches and get up and move the ball and put some points on the board."

The magic continued when he threw for 332 yards, three touchdowns and zero interceptions in a playoff win over the Seattle Seahawks and then helped lead the 49ers to a victory over the Dallas Cowboys in the divisional round.

Since the NFL is a copycat league, teams are going to attempt to find their own version of Purdy late in the draft this year and beyond. There has already been no shortage of media discussion about that exact topic as the 2023 draft approaches, and he understands exactly what that player will be facing as a rookie.

"As a college player going to the NFL, you just want an opportunity," he said. "So whoever is going to be drafted last, it's a blessing. You get an opportunity to go and compete. Obviously, last year and having success as the last draft pick is great, but everybody's story is different. Whoever it is this year, that's an opportunity so go with it and run with it. I'm going to be excited for whoever it is."

Maybe this year's Mr. Irrelevant will even land a Buffalo Wild Wings partnership like Purdy did.

The 49ers quarterback is helping the restaurant promote its One and $1 deal, which lets any fan who orders one of Buffalo Wild Wings' new burgers also receive six boneless wings for $1 more.

"It sort of just relates to the theme of my rookie year and being drafted last and having some success," Purdy said of the idea that fans can overlook the burgers when thinking about Buffalo Wild Wings. "They're obviously known for their amazing wings and everything, but I think their burgers are amazing as well. I'm rolling with them."

He may be rolling with the burgers off the field, but it remains to be seen who the 49ers will be rolling with on it when it comes to the starting quarterback position.

Although Garoppolo is now on the Las Vegas Raiders, there is still a battle looming between Purdy, Lance and new addition Sam Darnold. That Purdy and Lance will both be coming off injuries that required surgery only adds another element of mystery to the proceedings, but they have to be considered the favorites at this point.

After all, turnover issues and inconsistency have largely defined Darnold's career to this point even though he was the No. 3 pick in the 2018 NFL draft.

Lance, who was the No. 3 pick of the 2021 draft, likely has the highest ceiling with his athleticism and ability to make plays with his legs, but injuries and the presence of Garoppolo has left him inexperienced with just four starts.

Enter Purdy, who doesn't have the athleticism of Lance and is also inexperienced. Still, he immediately thrived distributing the ball to the playmakers around him, which is exactly what the 49ers quarterback will need to do in 2023 with Christian McCaffrey, Deebo Samuel, George Kittle, Brandon Aiyuk and Elijah Mitchell on the roster.

For his part, the approach is much different entering his second year than his just-make-the-team mindset as a rookie.

"For this year, it's like, 'All right, look at the film of the games that you played and even the games that you didn't play,'" he said. "How was our team, how did we operate, how can I learn from the mistakes and how can I build on the good stuff. There's a lot of stuff I can do and that I'm going to do this offseason in terms of working on footwork. I'm getting ready mentally for that and understanding how long a season it is.

"Last year was one of the longest years of my life coming from college football and then playing that long of a marathon of a season in the NFL. Just preparing for that again, and more than anything I'm just excited to get back with the guys and start building from the ground up."

If his rookie season was any indication, there is plenty of reason for that excitement.