It’s official. San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy will make his return to the starting lineup this Sunday against the Arizona Cardinals, per Kyle Shanahan.
On Wednesday, Shanahan said, “I think each week it’s gotten better, with last week being the best. Each week has been different. So, if he takes a big step forward this week, like he did last week, he should have a good chance to play.”
During an interview on KNBR on Thursday afternoon, Shanahan asked whether he had seen everything he needed to from Purdy during the two practices:
No, it’s just, he’s not limited at all. He had a full practice today. I thought he was real close last week. You know last week, we were considering it, even getting him up to be a backup and stuff. But we thought it would help him one more week, just speaking with him and stuff. And just watching him this whole week, I couldn’t agree more because I think he looked great in practice this week.
You can’t tell any difference in how Brock’s always been. So, I think he made it a pretty easy decision for us. No point in messing around. It’s time to go.
Shanahan hasn’t hid from the fact that the team may have been too quick to put Purdy back in action, which led to a reaggravation in Week 4. He was asked how different Purdy looked at practice during this week:
Much better. I thought he pushed it more in these practices. I thought when he came back at first, he didn’t push it quite as hard — which was similiar to the Jacksonville week. But then we found out in the game, that when he had to go a little bit harder, that things came up.
So I think he’s pushed it harder these past few weeks since he has been coming back on a limited basis. But this week, really ramped it up. And watching him ramp it up at game tempo and do that stuff without me seeing any difference with my own eyes, and when I talk to him after, and him saying that he feels nothing, that’s when you know it’s time to go. Real excited to get him back.
Shanahan also said Ricky Pearsall has had a good week during practice and “has done some good things.” Shanahan said the plan is to be smart with Pearsall and ease him back in, which is why he’s been listed as limited on the practice reports this week: “He did a little on Wednesday. Did a little more today. But he’ll be good to go on Sunday.”
Shanahan said Pearsall was the only wide receiver who had an entire offseason where he was healthy:
He was really the one that was tuned in with the offense and the timing of everything, because he was the one who got a full OTAs and a full training camp. JJ missing all training camp, and then getting hurt versus Seattle made that really tough.
Then, pretty much from the second and third week on, we were dependent on KB, who just got here in Week 2, and D-Rob, who was coming back from suspension, and Skyy. So, it was a real huge challenge to work through with guys not being here and trying to learn on the fly.
That’s why I was so proud of Mac and what he did. Coming into that situation, being able to pull that off with this group of guys who just hadn’t had the practice reps yet with him.
But just getting Ricky back, I know he’s only a second-year player, but it feels like you’re getting a veteran back in terms of the guy who has gotten the most work in what we’ve done. He’s not going to be there right away in terms of where he left off, because he was playing at such a high level and was so ready for that in conditioning and everything, but he still looks like the same guy. As we get that conditioning up, he’ll get right back to where he left off.
That’s a great point about the situation Jones was playing in, and an even better one about how much Pearsall truly means to this offense.
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