The 49ers’ plan is for Brock Purdy to start at quarterback when the team opens its regular season on Sept. 10 in Pittsburgh. All signs point their plan staying on track with Purdy healthy enough to receive full clearance to practice when the team opened camp July 26.
While a Week 1 start for Purdy has been the team’s plan publicly, it’s not something Purdy has discussed with head coach Kyle Shanahan. Purdy told reporters after Thursday’s practice that he hasn’t had a conversation with the coaching staff about who will start the season opener.
“No, we haven’t had any kind of conversation like that,” Purdy said. “It’s, ‘hey, how can I be great today at practice? Let’s get these reps, let’s get the mental reps and let’s continue to grow.’ Obviously, what we put on tape last year was great and all but there’s still a lot of areas where I have to grow and get better and stuff. So that’s just where we’re at. We’re not trying to get too far ahead of ourselves.”
It makes sense that the head coach wouldn’t want to apply additional pressure on his QB. Purdy credited his rapid return with taking the rehab process one day at a time, and that mindset has continued into training camp.
The practice reps at QB tell a pretty clear story about Purdy’s place on the depth chart. His focus just has to be on knocking rust off and ensuring he’s fully healthy for the regular season. If he does that, he’ll be the team’s starter whether he and Shanahan discuss that ahead of time or not.
