During Monday night's broadcast of the game between the San Francisco 49ers and the Minnesota Vikings, ESPN analyst Troy Aikman shared insights from a conversation with quarterback Brock Purdy.
"In talking to him about his elbow and the injury that he had last year in the playoffs, he's still regaining his strength," Aikman said during the game broadcast, per the San Francisco Chronicle. "It's not 100 percent."
This was news to head coach Kyle Shanahan, who stated on Wednesday that he had yet to receive such information from his quarterback.
Purdy underwent surgery in March to repair a torn ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) in his right elbow, an injury sustained in last season's NFC Championship Game. He resumed on-field work at the beginning of training camp in July and has started all seven games this season.
On Friday morning, John Lynch addressed Aikman's comments. The 49ers general manager believes that some of Purdy's statements might have been taken out of context. According to Lynch, Purdy may have been referring to his extensive pre- and post-game routines to prepare his elbow, not his ability to sling it during game time.
"But Brock feels like he's 100 percent on the field and all that," Lynch said on KNBR's "Murph and Mac" show. "It's just all the work he continues to do to take care of that. I think that's more what Brock was getting at.
"And I don't know if it was misconstrued, how it was communicated. I didn't hear it, but [49ers VP of football communications] Corry [Rush] did mention that that's not what Brock was speaking to. He does feel 100 percent on the field."
Purdy is currently in the concussion protocol. Encouragingly, the quarterback participated in some practice work on Thursday, which bodes well for his availability against the Cincinnati Bengals this weekend.
If Purdy cannot play, it will be veteran Sam Darnold making the start.
"We've got a lot of belief in Sam Darnold and what he provides," Lynch said. "He's played in this league at a high level, and I think he is a great fit for what we do. So we've got a lot of belief in Sam."
You can listen to the entire conversation with Lynch below.
