Brock Purdy back to ‘normal’ as workload continues to ramp up in training camp

Friday’s practice at 49ers training camp was the longest one yet, pushing the quarterbacks and players for two & a half hours. That includes Brock Purdy, tossing the most passes in one session since last season. But while some think he’s still on the mend, the player feels great heading it the weekend.

Purdy spoke to the media Friday afternoon, explaining how the last two days have been his best yet. Tossing more than 20 passes in a practice for the first time this summer, the QB doesn’t feel any repercussions from offseason elbow surgery. In fact, he feels the opposite, back to normal in his eyes.

“For me, it’s like I feel like normal when I’m out there. So I feel like I just got to get into a rhythm and play go through progressions and just play quarterback,” Brock Purdy said. “There’s nothing like that that goes through my mind. So I just play football, get into my reads and I feel normal. So it’s not like I’m out there timid or scared about a certain area. So honestly, I feel good.”

After my first error of camp, here are the updated and correct QB numbers for Practice 8:

Brock Purdy
11-on-11 reps: 32
Passing: 15-21, INT

Trey Lance
11-on-11 reps: 22
Passing: 8-11

Sam Darnold
11-on-11 reps: 22
Passing: 12-14

Brandon Allen
11-on-11 reps: 12
Passing: 5-8

— Matt Maiocco (@MaioccoNBCS) August 4, 2023

While Purdy hasn’t taken a game-day hit since the NFC Championship Game, he has worked through some hurdles in the offseason and training camp.

Case in point, 49ers defensive end Clelin Ferrell hit the QB’s surgically-repaired arm during live drills the other day. The general rule of thumb is to not even breathe on the gunslingers in practice. But while others, including head coach Kyle Shanahan, were irate by the play, Purdy didn’t think anything of it, attributing it to the game of football.

“Honestly, I wasn’t even thinking that, I was more concerned with the read and hitting the open guy and all that kind of stuff and then he hit it and I was like, ‘oh shoot, he got through.’ I wasn’t even like ‘oh shoot, you hit my arm’. Nothing like that,” the QB explained.

Approaching five months post-operation, the 49ers have brought Brock along on a “two days on, one day off” approach until further notice. But after consecutive days of heavy throwing, the team could look to ramp him up even more next week before they head to Las Vegas for join practices with the Raiders.

For now, Purdy will stick to the plan, trusting the process as he takes his scheduled day off Saturday.

“We’ll see. We got to finish out this week first and sort of talk about some things and go from there. But as of now, we’re just doing the two days on, one day off and going from there. I feel great, so we just got to see where we’re at at the end of this week,” he said.

Brock Purdy evaluates his performance after the team’s longest practice of the summer thus far#49ers | #FTTB pic.twitter.com/FkKfqdWvWx

— Sterling Bennett (@49ers_Access) August 4, 2023

Purdy is also the only 49ers QB to take reps solely with the first team. And after Kyle Shanahan referred to the young sensation as “the real deal” Thursday, many expect him to remain the team’s starter when Week 1 rolls around.

But that’s not on Brock’s mind at the moment.

Humble as ever, the Arizona native appreciates the vote of confidence, while also admitting he has a lot more work to do before the regular season starts.

“Yeah, I appreciate that. But for myself, I know what I have to do. I have to do better at areas and keep chipping away, and keep growing as an offense to keep pushing this offense to get to the level that we want to be,” Brock Purdy stated. “We all expect a lot of great things and high things out of ourselves this year. And so that’s where I’m at, trying to just continue to get on pace and on track with receivers and skill guys and timing and go from there. Yeah, the ceiling here is high and we all expect that out of ourselves. We expect to be great and that’s how I look at it.”

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