SANTA CLARA — Any training camp story about Brock Purdy must open with his health update, especially after Friday commanded the largest workload yet for his surgically repaired elbow.
“Arm feels good,” Purdy said, “feels like I can continue to keep going.”
The mental side of the game is what Purdy must continue to improve before the Sept. 10 season opener. That goes for getting his eyes up to speed to track defenders’ adjustments and receivers’ routes. And it goes for the moment most comeback-making football players really feel they are back: that first hit.
“I just have to get in a rhythm and play, go through progressions, and just play quarterback,” Purdy said.
“It’s not really, ‘Hey, I have to get tackled here, just so I feel good about my arm.’ Nothing like that goes through my mind. I just play football, go through my reads, and I feel normal. It’s not like I’m out there timid or scared about a certain hit.”
The first scare of his comeback came earlier this week, when defensive end Clelin Ferrell knocked the ball from Purdy’s hand while his rebuilt forearm carried out the throwing motion. It understandably startled coach Kyle Shanahan and onlookers.
Insisting he reminds defenders every play that quarterbacks are off limits from contact, Shanahan said of Monday’s incident: “I had to hold my breath so I didn’t lose my mind,” adding that it was “human nature” for the pass-rushing Ferrell.
It also surprised Purdy, to an extent.
“I feel as a coach or teammate watching, yeah, they might be scared about that, especially how things ended last year with my arm,” Purdy said. “But honestly for myself, it’s just football. I wasn’t even thinking about it. Was I mad at Clelin? I told him, ‘Dude, it’s football. I get it. We’re in a competing environment. Things happen.’ But for myself, was I scared or timid about it? No.”
Indeed, Purdy can’t play scared, and he didn’t last season as a rookie. Purdy delivered eight wins in relief of an injured Jimmy Garoppolo (and an injured Trey Lance) before the ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow was torn in the NFC Championship Game, resulting in a March 10 repair and a six-month rehabilitation schedule.
While his comeback is going according to plan (throw two days in a row, rest the next), football demands adjusting on the fly, and Shanahan is getting Purdy and all his quarterbacks mentally prepared in practice. That’s been the same since Day 1 of Shanahan’s training camp in 2017, as fullback Kyle Juszczyk attested.
“When we go to ‘move the ball’ (period), you don’t know what you’re getting,” Juszczyk said. “You’re going to get any play in the playbook, a play you may have never seen in your life. You have to be ready for it.”
“When he’s calling plays off-script, for me, it’s a good challenge at practice,” Purdy said. “It’s stuff I have to continue to work on and chip away at.”
That element of surprise is not reserved for just Purdy, even though he has taken every first-team rep in his six practices (of eight total this camp).
“Today, there was a play we were just lining up in the same formation, same motion, and he called a play we hadn’t run in a couple weeks,” said Sam Darnold, Lance’s challenger for the No. 2 role. “In those ‘move the ball’ periods with realistic football, he’s putting everything together in his head. He doesn’t have a call sheet. So he just calls a play that comes to his mind.”
Lance, in his third camp under Shanahan, says things are pretty consistent with past summers. That will change next week, he noted, when the 49ers visit the Raiders for joint practices Thursday and Friday before their preseason opener Aug. 13.
Purdy used last year’s joint practices with the Vikings to make his move up the depth chart and onto the opening-day roster. This time, Purdy already has his coach’s endorsement: “We’re not worried about Brock. Brock’s the real deal,” Shanahan said Thursday.
Purdy attempted a camp-high 20 passes Friday, completing 14 and having one intercepted by Tashaun Gipson Sr. after a Ferrell pressure.
Perhaps no pass meant more than when Purdy connected with Deebo Samuel on a 12-yard fade route for a touchdown at the end zone’s front, right pylon. Covered tightly by Charvarius Ward, Samuel landed hard on the ground, apparently on his right hip, which he rubbed after a few long seconds of staying on the grass. Samuel walked off the field without a noticeable limp after practice.
NOTES
— Purdy threw support behind his alma mater, Iowa State, in the wake of a sports-betting investigation that’s led to criminal charges against seven current or former athletes from Iowa State and Iowa, including his former backup, Hunter Dekkers.
“That’s sort of sad to hear. I played with a lot of those guys. I feel for them,” Purdy said. “At the end of the day, they’ll do what they have to do. As a program as a whole, they’ll move forward and be just fine. Coach (Matt) Campbell does a great job of leading those guys through adversity. They have a great culture there.”
— Samuel wasn’t the only one making impressive catches for Purdy. Five snaps earlier, Brandon Aiyuk soared for a 15-yard reception against Deommodore Lenoir, who broke up a Purdy pass toward tight end Brayden Willis earlier in practice. AIyuk caught three Purdy passes plus one from Darnold.
“It’s just so hard to not recognize how well B.A. has been playing. He really has been so dominant,” fullback Kyle Juszczyk said. “Each and every day, it seems he’s the best player on the field.”
— Ferrell, who dangerously knocked the ball from Purdy’s grasp in Monday’s practice, again caused commotion in the backfield. He not only pressured Purdy into Gipson’s interception, but an earlier play saw Ferrell beat left tackle Trent Williams and nearly roll into Purdy’s legs as he threw an incompletion.
— Darryl Johnson, a third-string defensive end, went on season-ending injured reserve with an unspecified injury. Defensive lineman Daelin Hayes, a 2021 Ravens draft pick, was signed in a corresponding move.
— Christian McCaffrey had 10 touches – five runs, five receptions – all in first-team action after resting in Thursday’s team drills.
— Undrafted rookie D’Shawn Jamison continued his impressive camp, from breaking up a Darnold pass intended for Chris Conley in full-team action to tightly shadowing Brandon Aiyuk on a deep Purdy pass in one-on-one drills
— Ronnie Bell made his first big play – or noticeable one — of camp by snagging a Lance pass against Tre Swilling and racing toward the end zone for a potential touchdown.
— With left guard Aaron Banks in the concussion protocol, Nick Zakelj took some first-team snaps. Zakelj had a low, shotgun snap to Trey Lance in another period, to which Lance deftly snared and promptly handed off without skipping a beat.
— Jake Moody’s range: apparently 62 yards without a bay breeze at his back. Friday’s practice ended with his 63-yard field-goal attempt falling short under the crossbar, two days after he connected from 60 yards.
Source: www.mercurynews.com