The 49ers finished up their final day of practice on Thursday ahead of their preseason home opener against the Denver Broncos on Saturday.
What stood out was the extended involvement for Brock Purdy in a lengthy, successful situational drill to end practice.
Brock Purdy
Purdy took 27 reps on Thursday, with a day punctuated by 10-play, two-minute drill to end practice.
He began his first period by facing a clear Fred Warner sack. A couple plays later, he found Deebo Samuel on a nice crossing route against Deommodore Lenoir.
His next series began with a high completion over the middle, necessitating an athletic grab from Brandon Aiyuk. A heads-up play from Brayden Willis followed. Austin Bryant came rushing at Purdy, and tipped his pass with his power forward-like frame. Instead of falling to the ground, though, Willis was quick to the fluttering ball, snagged it, and turned upfield for a gain of a few yards.
Purdy’s next two passes were complete, too. He found Aiyuk again on an out route, then hit Jordan Mason waiting along the left sideline.
He got one, six-play red zone series before his final drive. His first ball was a great throw and catch complete to Samuel, a half-yard short of the front left pylon.
His second was an incompletion over the middle on a hospital ball to Charlie Woerner. Curtis Robinson clobbered Woerner, who tried to make a low, sliding catch.
Purdy found one touchdown to Ross Dwelley on a dart throw towards the front right against tight coverage from Demetrius Flannigan-Fowles. He had to throw away his final red zone pass in the back of the end zone with nothing available.
The 13-play situational drive, with the clock ticking and time running out, went as follows:
- Screen, complete to Samuel
- False start (culprit unknown)
- Jordan Mason run middle, stopped by Isaiah Oliver
- Complete right to Samuel
- Bad throw, incomplete towards Aiyuk, who slipped coming out of his route, near-INT for Oliver
- Complete left on an easy out route completion to Danny Gray against Lenoir
- Possible sack, then completion to the left to Ty Davis-Price
- Incompletion short right to Davis-Price. He had a miscommunication where he stopped his route and Purdy expected him to keep running to the right
- Easy completion on a medium out route to Chris Conley
- Another completion to Conley over the middle
- SPIKE. Clock stops with 12 seconds left.
- Throwaway.
- Jake Moody iced by special teams coordinator Brian Schneider. Makes his field goal from 35 yards, then 45 yards.
Sam Darnold
Darnold took 11 reps on Thursday. Most of his passing attempts were failed connections to tight ends. His first pass of the day was incomplete to Cameron Latu, and his next attempt on the following series was a missed touchdown to Troy Fumagalli.
Fumagalli came wide open running up the seam into acres of space, but didn’t seem to arc his route toward the middle of the field like Darnold had hoped. Darnold overthrew him and a massive chance went wasted.
Darnold then took a clear, unavoidable sack from Bryant, who spun brilliantly off the inside shoulder of Matt Pryor. Darnold threw late towards Conley after the play for a near interception.
His final series, in the red zone, should have been rewarded with a touchdown. He threw to his left and found Ronnie Bell, who embarrassed Samuel Womack on a short out cut. The second he grabbed the ball, Bell faked out, then snapped his hips inside and left Womack in the dust.
The next play was another horrible moment for Latu. He had dropped a ball on air earlier (on air meaning warmup passes without defensive players in coverage) and this one was a wide open touchdown towards the right pylon. Instead, Latu stone-handed it and the ball dropped to the ground. His inability to hold onto the ball has been hard to watch and simultaneously makes you feel for him and wonder how the 49ers can justify rostering him.
The last two passes of the day were both intended for Bell. Darnold threw a ball high where only Bell could try and leap to get it, but tight coverage from D’Shawn Jamison made that a tough task, and the play went incomplete. It would’ve been a challenge for the 49ers’ top three wide receivers and George Kittle to make the grab.
The last throw was, again, elite coverage from Jamison. Darnold had to lead Bell towards the right corner of the end zone, but the ball again went incomplete.
Trey Lance
Lance took just five reps on Thursday. None were in the red zone or situational drills. His first series featured a handoff to Jordan Mason, a designed, failed run for Lance, then a completion over the middle to Fumagalli.
His second series featured a screen to the left to Willie Snead IV, then a short completion to Jeremy McNichols (on a play Marlon Davidson badly beat Leroy Watson IV).
That was it for Lance.
What should we make of this? Probably that this was the last practice before the second preseason game.
Kyle Shanahan told KNBR’s Adam Copeland that “we may see Brock and some of the starters for a series or two,” but “if not, it will be Sam Darnold for the whole first half.”
Shanahan likely wanted to see the starters work extensively, to see where they’re at, and then to verify that Darnold is his choice for backup (which seems exceedingly likely at this stage).
Lance, you’d imagine, will get the lion’s share of the playing time in the second half and probably plenty in the third game.
