Even while riding a quarterback carousel early this season, the San Francisco 49ers are one of six undefeated teams through three weeks.
Starter Brock Purdy was sidelined the last two games with turf toe, but Mac Jones has taken the reins, leading the 49ers to wins over New Orleans and Arizona.
Now, there’s some uncertainty if either of them will be available for Sunday’s game against the Jacksonville Jaguars in Santa Clara, Calif.
Purdy (left shoulder/toe) and Jones (knee) were limited in Wednesday’s practice. 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan said before the practice that both would get fewer first-team reps than usual, and third-string quarterback Adrian Martinez will get a larger share.
“(Brock) is better today than he was on Sunday. Hopefully, that will keep continuing,” Shanahan said.
Martinez, 25, signed with the 49ers (3-0) in August after he was waived by the New York Jets. He was elevated from the practice squad to be the backup last week with Purdy inactive and has never appeared in a regular-season NFL game.
Whoever gets the start at QB, they could have a limited group of skill-position players around them. Tight end George Kittle (hamstring) remains out, and receivers Ricky Pearsall (knee), Jauan Jennings (ankle/shoulder) and Jordan Watkins (calf) all missed Wednesday’s practice.
The Jaguars (2-1) are coming off their first home win over Houston since 2017. Now, they seek their first win at San Francisco. They’ve lost both trips there and the last five games in the series.
For the second time in three games, Jacksonville’s defense didn’t allow a touchdown until the fourth quarter of last week’s 17-10 win over the Texans. The Jags are tied for fifth in scoring defense (17.0 points per game), 10th in total defense (292.0 yards per game) and lead the league with nine forced turnovers, as many as they had all of last season, which was last in the NFL.
Jacksonville rookie Travis Hunter has played a greater role in that success over the last two weeks. After playing largely on offense in Week 1, the No. 2 overall pick has been a true two-way player the last two weeks, playing at least 37 snaps on both offense and defense in each game.
He enters Sunday’s game with 10 catches for 76 yards on offense and nine tackles with one pass breakup on defense. He had six tackles (one off the team lead) and a shifty 21-yard catch in the Houston win.
To keep things as simple as possible, Jacksonville is limiting Hunter to a specific position on each side of the ball as a rookie.
“We had a great talk with Trav after this past game in terms of just, ‘How can we help you?’ Because what is he learning? It’s a lot,” Jaguars head coach Liam Coen said. “We’ve got to, I think, be a little more diligent in terms of putting him in positions to maybe not have to do as many moving parts so that we can let him go play.”
The San Francisco defense took a hit Sunday when five-time Pro Bowl edge rusher Nick Bosa sustained a season-ending knee injury. Losing a player who had nine-plus sacks each of the last four seasons will hinder a defense which ranks third in scoring defense (16.3) and fourth in total defense (265.7).
It puts an onus on players like rookie first-round pick Mykel Williams and veteran defensive end Bryce Huff (22 career sacks), whom the 49ers traded for in June, to rise to the challenge.
“We’re calling on a lot of guys who probably didn’t know that they were going to be needed as much as they have been,” 49ers linebacker Fred Warner said.
Additionally for San Francisco, defensive end Yetur Gross-Matos (knee) and defensive tackle C.J. West (thumb) did not practice Wednesday while cornerbacks Renardo Green (neck) and Deommodore Lenoir (illness), guard Connor Colby (groin) and defensive tackle Kalia Davis (ankle) were limited.
Wide receiver Dyami Brown (shoulder) was the only active Jacksonville player who did not practice Wednesday. Running back Bhayshul Tuten (shoulder) and guards Ezra Cleveland (ankle), Patrick Mekari (elbow) and Wyatt Milum (knee) were limited.
