Niners Nation
Local and national media had been hinting leading up to Friday that the San Francisco 49ers would go another game with Mac Jones under center, as Brock Purdy fully recovers from a turf toe injury he suffered in Week 4.
During a radio interview on KNBR Thursday afternoon, 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan explained the process of what it takes for a player to return to the field after not playing or practicing for so long:
“When a guy’s missed a month or three games in a row, then it’s never a consideration whether he can go on Sunday. I mean, if a guy’s missed that long, he’s got to get back into practice and give himself and everyone else the confidence that he’s okay and can be good by Sunday.”
Purdy is among the players who are questionable for Sunday. The following players were ruled out:
Jake Brendel
Yetur Gross-Matos
Bryce Huff
Ricky Pearsall
Questionable:
Ben Bartch
Spencer Burford
Sam Okuayinonu
Dee Winters
Brock Purdy
Jordan Elliott
Despite Purdy’s status, “Mac’s gonna start,” per Shanahan. Purdy’s toe isn’t fully healthy. He did not take all of the starter reps this week.
Shanahan mentioned how the 49ers may have jumped the gun the last time Brock returned from injury. The team gave him all of the starter reps during practice, but that led to a setback the first time he was hit. Shanahan said the team didn’t want to commit to Purdy getting all of the reps during the practice week, in hopes of easing Purdy back into the flow of things.
When asked whether Brock received a lot of the starter reps this week, Kyle said, “I wouldn’t say a lot.” As you’d imagine, Shanahan wasn’t in the mood to go into detail about his franchise quarterback’s injury, from the risk of a re-injury to what he’s doing during practice.
Shanahan hasn’t seen Purdy outwardly frustrated about his injury:
Brock’s a pretty composed guy, so he’s not going to get emotional either way, in either situation. He’s never going to get too up or too down. Just speaking for him, I know he’s frustrated. Anytime you’ve got stuff that you haven’t had before, that lingers, Brock is more frustrated than anyone that he can’t be out there.
He’s talked to a lot of people who have had this, and a lot of people warned him that this was the case. So it’s not totally shocked him. I think anytime you have something that doesn’t go away, it’s frustrating.
I remember I hadn’t sprained my ankle my whole life. And I got my first high-ankle sprain in my fifth year of college because it felt better than the ten regular ankle sprains I’ve had in my life. I couldn’t walk for a month. I missed a whole month of football. You don’t really get it. It lingers and it doesn’t go away. I haven’t had a toe injury, so I don’t fully relate to it,...
