49ers quarterback Brock Purdy injured his elbow in Sunday’s NFC Championship Game loss to the Eagles and head coach Kyle Shanahan said after the game that the team needs an MRI to determine the severity of the injury.
Adam Schefter of ESPN reports that the team believes that Purdy, who returned to the game but clearly couldn’t throw, injured his ulnar collateral ligament. The MRI will show whether or not the UCL is ruptured and a negative result would lead to a six-week recovery period for Purdy. A rupture would lead to a longer timeline, but it’s not clear exactly how long.
UCL tears are common for baseball pitchers and they are typically repaired with what’s known as Tommy John surgery. That carries a lengthy recovery time, but the outlook isn’t the same for quarterbacks because of the differences in throwing motions.
The results of the MRI will have some impact on what the 49ers do at quarterback this offseason, so there will be a lot of eyes on the test results in San Francisco on Monday.