SANTA CLARA — When you watch Brock Purdy at practice, he seems healthy enough to play. He can run. He can throw. He looks like Brock Purdy.
But he almost certainly will not start this Sunday against the New York Giants despite practicing all week for the second week in a row. To be fair, the 49ers listed him as a limited participant, which means he didn’t do the full practice. He isn’t healthy enough yet to take all the reps during 11-on-11 team drills, which the media isn’t allowed to watch. It’s unclear if he takes any reps in those team drills.
When the media is present, Purdy is third in the pecking quarterback pecking order behind Mac Jones and Adrian Martinez. Which means in every warmup drill, Jones takes the first rep, Martinez takes the second one and Purdy takes the third.
Each Thursday, the 49ers’ starting quarterback has a press conference in the team’s auditorium. Today, Jones had a press conference, and Purdy did not. He hasn’t spoken to the media in weeks.
On Monday, head coach Kyle Shanahan told reporters that Purdy playing this Sunday isn’t “a long shot,” but it always seemed unlikely that the 49ers would let him make his return from turf toe in the stadium that has the most notorious turf in the league – MetLife Stadium.
Now, the hope amongst fans is that the 49ers will bring back Purdy for their Week 10 game at home against the Rams. That way, Purdy can make his comeback on a grass field.
As cool as it would be to watch Purdy face the Rams in a little more than a week, I wouldn’t hold my breath that he’ll play in that game.
The 49ers are in no rush to play Purdy even though they gave him a five-year, $265 million extension this offseason. That’s because they’re 4-2 with Mac Jones.
Obviously, the 49ers want Purdy to be their quarterback for the playoff push late in the season — that’s why they paid him so much money. Which means they can’t afford to play him if there’s any risk of him reinjuring his toe. They already made that mistake once when they played him against the Jaguars just two weeks after he suffered the initial injury.
And until Purdy is 100 percent recovered from this toe injury, he doesn’t necessarily give the 49ers a better chance to win than Jones. As we saw against the Jaguars, both Purdy’s mobility and accuracy were greatly compromised by this injury. If the 49ers rush a rusty Purdy onto the field at 85 percent health against the Rams, he might lose a game that Jones could have won. Keep in mind, Jones beat the Rams in Los Angeles just a few weeks ago.
The 49ers would be wise to keep Purdy on the shelf as long as possible. And considering how easy their schedule is, there’s a real chance their record could be 9-4 at the bye week even if Purdy doesn’t play. Their next five opponents are the Giants, the Rams, the Cardinals, the Panthers and the Browns.
Don’t be surprised if Purdy doesn’t play until after the bye week. Which means his next start could be Dec. 14 at home against the Tennessee Titans.
Better safe than sorry.
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