Signs point to 49ers sitting Brock Purdy for the second week in a row

SANTA CLARA — If Brock Purdy had it his way, he’d play this weekend. That seems abundantly clear from his presence on the practice field this week.

Purdy was a limited participant during Wednesday’s and Thursday’s practices after missing Sunday’s win over the New Orleans Saints with a turf toe injury he suffered Week 1. When the 49ers first announced Purdy’s injury, they said he’d most likely miss two to five weeks. Now, he’s trying to convince the 49ers that he’s ready to come back early.

On Thursday, general manager John Lynch went on KNBR in San Francisco and discussed Purdy’s status for Sunday’s game against the Arizona Cardinals.

“I can tell you that it was encouraging to see him practice. He was limited yesterday, which means he got out there and had some activity. The key now is how does he respond to that? We will make an organizational decision on where Brock’s at later in the week, but it’s encouraging to see him out there. He’s doing a heck of a job attacking the rehab every way that he can. We’ll see where that goes.”

The key phrase in Lynch’s answer is “organizational decision.” It means that Purdy won’t decide whether he’ll play — the 49ers will make that decision. Just because he’s the franchise quarterback and he’s getting paid $53 million per season doesn’t mean he gives the team the best chance to win when he’s injured. If his toe bothers him when he throws and limits his mobility when he runs, then the 49ers might be better off playing Mac Jones, who’s healthy and coming off a good performance in New Orleans.

In 2023, Purdy suffered a concussion near the end of a loss in Minnesota. The next week, he rushed back to play against the Bengals, played poorly and the 49ers lost again. In retrospect, the 49ers missed an opportunity to see Sam Darnold start a game for them. Considering how well he did in Minnesota last season, he just might have won that game for the 49ers against the Bengals. And the 49ers might have learned that Purdy isn’t the only quarterback who can run Kyle Shanahan’s system at a high level.

Now, the 49ers have an opportunity to rest Purdy one more week so his turf toe doesn’t linger, and they have an opportunity to see a second start from Jones just to make sure the first one wasn’t a fluke against a bad team.

Stay tuned. The 49ers should make their organizational decision about Purdy on Friday, if they haven’t made it already.