After almost a week in the desert, the 49ers reset in Santa Clara this week, ramping up for their preseason home opener against the Denver Broncos on Saturday.
The looming questions have been whether Brock Purdy and the starters will see any playing time, and if so, how much.
Shanahan discussed that proposition on Thursday, when he joined Tolbert and Copes.
He said that there’s a chance Purdy will go, but that Sam Darnold will get the entire first half if Purdy doesn’t play.
“We planned on Sam going the first half,” Shanahan said. “We just finished practice here. I’m gonna talk to the trainers with the rest of our team and everything. I might get Brock in there for a little bit. Have not finalized that yet. But thinking about playing the ones for possibly a series a little in the first quarter. But whatever that is, if we don’t, Sam will have the whole first half and if those guys do open the game with Brock and some of the ones, it probably won’t be much longer than a series or two.”
He also indicated that more players will be involved than against the Raiders, when very few potential starters saw the field.
“My main goal in it is that everyone gets out healthy, but I want to see us play better,” Shanahan said. “I want our coaches to be sharper. I want our players to be sharper. We’ll play a few more guys in this but I still see it as kind of the fourth practice of the week.”
Saturday’s game is slated for a 5:30 p.m. start time. Broncos head coach Sean Payton played his starters quite a bit in the team’s first preseason game, which could provide some intrigue if both teams put their ones on the field.
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