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The San Francisco 49ers’ quarterback situation is never short on drama.
But if you ask head coach Kyle Shanahan, it’s going to take a disaster for someone other than Brock Purdy to be the 49ers’ starting quarterback come Week 1.
Shanahan spoke emphatically about his confidence in the second-year quarterback in an interview with Sports Illustrated‘s Albert Breer this week, all but naming Purdy as the team’s QB1.
“He would have to melt in practice to lose [the starting quarterback job],” Shanahan said. “And Brock’s too good of a player to melt in practice—and so are the other guys.”
Purdy suffered a devastating elbow injury during the NFC Championship game against the Eagles and underwent offseason Tommy John surgery.
But Shanahan’s quotes seem to make one thing clear: as long as Purdy, the last pick in the 2022 NFL Draft, is healthy, he will be the starter.
Purdy threw for 1,374 yards and 13 touchdowns with just four interceptions in five regular-season starts (all wins) before leading the 49ers to NFC title game.
Purdy started the 2022 season third on the 49ers’ QB depth chart behind 2021 No. 3 overall pick Trey Lance and Jimmy Garoppolo.
But after the two went down with injuries in September and December, respectively, Purdy took over the starting job.
Coming into this season, with Purdy recovering from surgery, there were questions as to whether Lance or offseason pickup Sam Darnold could overtake him as Shanahan’s preferred play-caller.
But according to Shanahan, there was never any question who, barring injuries, would lead San Francisco’s offense this season.
“The games Brock played in, he played at as high a level as you can ask for, as consistent a level as you can ask for,” Shanahan said, per SI. “Hell yeah, you can win with that and be very happy with that. That was [seven full] games, there’s a lot that goes into it, and we’ll see how it goes.
“I mean, we played good enough in those games to say we’re going with him this year. …He’s been [the starter] since last year ended. He was always clearly our starter, but there were so many questions about his injury, how he’d come back from it, that we didn’t even know if he’d be ready for this year, so we had to prepare for everything else.”
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