San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy scrambled into the end zone for a rushing touchdown during Sunday's win over the Cleveland Browns, looking more comfortable than he has since returning from his turf toe injury. Purdy says the setback no longer crosses his mind during games.
"It's felt great," Purdy told Bay Area radio station KNBR on Tuesday. "It's gotten better, I feel like, every week, and just in general. I'm out there playing, and worrying about my assignment, details, throws, and I'm not even thinking about my toe.
"It's more so just warming it up, and then, after games and stuff, treating it up and everything. But it's in a really good spot right now. I feel confident in it."
Head coach Kyle Shanahan previously noted that the toe was unlikely to be 100% healthy for the remainder of the season. However, the 49ers are confident that Purdy is healthy enough to lead the team down the stretch.
Is the assessment that the injury will continue to linger accurate?
"Correct," Purdy admitted. "I mean, it's definitely going to just be a thing that I feel, like I said, warming up or waking up in the morning—that kind of thing. But when I'm out there, adrenaline's going, I'm worried about playing quarterback. I'm not thinking about it as I'm dropping back or throwing or anything like that. But it is what it is."
Purdy added that the injury has given him a newfound appreciation for the small muscles and ligaments in his feet, as well as the importance of maintaining them throughout the year.
"It's sort of just open up my eyes in terms of just my health with my ankles and my feet and everything moving forward," Purdy said. "It's something that it sucks going through, to experience, but I learned from it, and hopefully, moving forward, I can just continue to make sure my feet are right."