Niners Nation
Your daily San Francisco 49ers news for Friday, June 6th, 2025
Kawakami: Brock Purdy on a magic number, the 49ers’ future, and pal Tyrese Haliburton (paywall)
“When we’re golfing, my agent texted me saying, ‘We’re getting close,’” Purdy said. “And then a couple of holes go by, and I look at my phone again and I had a missed call and he goes, ‘Dude, pick up the phone,’ from John Lynch. ‘IT’S DONE,’ in all caps. And so then that moment right there, my heart dropped and I was like, this is crazy, it’s happening.
“I just hugged my wife on the golf cart and gave her a kiss. It was a cool little moment, just us two, there wasn’t anyone else freaking out or anything. It was just us going like, you know, this happened and God is so good and we’re just thankful for it.”
So after all that was done, how’d you do on No. 18, Brock?
“Oh, I birdied, so that was good,” Purdy said. “But man, that was a special day, getting out golfing in San Francisco, like the city I represent for the Niners, and to be able to be out there and then all of a sudden get a call, it was pretty special.”
Mick Lombardi, 49ers’ stature-challenged QB coach, has some big shoes to fill (paywall)
“I try to put my head down and work,” Lombardi said. “Head down and ears open. I tried to learn as much as I could as a young assistant. I tried to do that with coach Belichick and coach Harbaugh. I think it’s served me right.”
Lombardi said his work has created expertise that has given him confidence to deliver hard coaching points to decorated players such as Brady and Patriots wide receiver Julian Edelman, both of whom are older than Lombardi. Lombardi’s background meant he had to gain credibility with an encyclopedic knowledge of New England’s offense.
“As a young coach who didn’t play in the NFL, you always battle that: ‘How am I going to earn this player’s trust and respect?’” Lombardi said. “You have to go in and say, ‘OK, how can I make this player better? And how are they going to believe I can make them better?’ … You need to be honest with them. I think if you’re honest with a player instead of just being that player’s friend and you hold them to a standard, I think they’ll respect you.
“That credibility doesn’t come from just playing. It comes from film study. It comes from, ‘Hey, this is my knowledge on this play and why it’s going to work.’”
