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The 49ers had just wrapped up a walkthrough at the team facility the day before their 2022 preseason opener against the Packers. Brock Purdy, at that point, was a seventh-round, third-string rookie. He wasn’t even backing up Trey Lance and Jimmy Garoppolo yet, with Garoppolo exiled to a side field as the team worked to trade him. It was actually Lance and Nate Sudfeld he was behind. As such, shots to show what he had came few and far between.
Yet, Purdy managed to figure out he was making an impression. He got confirmation of it walking back into the Niners’ building that August day, trailing first-team All-Pro linebacker Fred Warner and first-team All-Pro tackle Trent Williams.
