Here is what stood out from the San Francisco 49ers 15th day of training camp.
Brock Purdy
Purdy threw two interceptions on Wednesday. He has now thrown at least one interception in six of the last seven practices. His lack of mistakes was a big part of the 49ers success when he stepped onto the field late last season and took over the starting quarterback job.
There is still roughly a month to go before the start of the regular season, but he needs to get this turned around. Turnovers have been one of the biggest predictors of success or failure for the 49ers over the last four seasons.
Purdy’s day opened with a defender getting their hands on the ball. Throwing a deep over route to Jauan Jennings, Purdy’s pass was broken up by safety Talanoa Hufanga.
After a completion on a screen to Kyle Juszczyk, Purdy again put the ball in harm’s way. Trying to hit Brandon Aiyuk on a slant to the left side, Purdy didn’t see linebacker Curtis Robinson. The throw hit the linebacker in the hands, but he couldn’t hang on.
Things picked up for Purdy following the near miss as the quarterback hit on five of his next six passes.
After hitting Danny Gray over the middle for a gain of 17, Purdy ripped a deep throw which travelled 45 yards before Brandon Aiyuk hauled it in while running down the left sideline. Aiyuk had got behind Ambry Thomas on the play and Purdy’s throw arrived before Hufanga could get over to make a play on the ball.
This throw is the latest example that Purdy has the same velocity he did on his throws as a year ago. In fact, Purdy and Aiyuk connected on a nearly identical play during training camp last year.
Following the deep throw, Purdy went to work looking downfield again on his next snap. With everything covered he checked down to Ty Davis-Price in the left flat for a gain of nine. Following a screen which was broken up by the 49ers defensive line, Purdy stepped into the pocket and ripped a throw over the middle to Ross Dwelley for a gain of ten. He wrapped up the first portion of practice with another checkdown, this one to Juszczyk.
Following the special teams period, the focus turned to third and one situations.
Purdy picked up one first down when he took a naked bootleg around the left side and kept it himself. The quarterback made his first big mistake of the day on the next play.
Rolling out to his left after a play fake, Purdy had Brandon Aiyuk open for the first down. However, he couldn’t get the ball up and over linebacker Curtis Robinson resulting in an interception. Purdy got lucky when Kyle Juszczyk stuck with the play and knocked the ball out of Robinson’s hand and the quarterback fell on the fumble.
From there the focus moved to the redzone.
Purdy opened the session up with a short completion to Kyle Juszczyk for a gain of three. Two plays later, facing third and five from the ten, Purdy found Brandon Aiyuk for the touchdown.
On the next possession, Purdy threw high to Deebo Samuel for an incompletion. Samuel was well covered along the backline of the endzone, but Purdy tried to give the receiver a chance to make a play. Purdy did the same thing on the next play when he lofted a pass to Brandon Aiyuk in the back of the endzone. Deommodore Lenoir was all over Aiyuk and got a hand on the ball, tipping it to Tashaun Gipson for Purdy’s second interception of the practice.
Purdy bounced back from the turnover on the next play when he connected with Deebo Samuel for his second touchdown. This was a beautiful throw from Purdy, getting to Samuel just in time for the receiver to get both feet down inbounds.
The starting offense wrapped up their day with a move the ball series.
On first down, Purdy tried to thread a pass to Deebo Samuel on a deep curl to the left side, but Ambry Thomas was there to break it up. This was another example of Purdy trusting his receiver and trying to make a play happen.
Following a pickup of eight on a screen to Jordan Mason the 49ers were left with third and two. Purdy made sure they converted, hitting Jauan Jennings with a short throw to the left side for a gain of six.
Facing third and one three plays later, Purdy rolled to his right off play action and hit Brandon Aiyuk for 14 yards while on the move to put the offense in scoring position.
Purdy finished the day 12-17 with two touchdowns to go along with the two interceptions.
Trey Lance
Lance got the first turn with the second offense on Wednesday. He started hot, hitting his first three passes before cooling of and connection on just one of his last four.
The third-year quarterback opened his work with a completion to Willie Snead while on the move to his right for a gain of 12. He then hit Jauan Jennings on a slant to the left for ten before finding Willie Snead for a second time, picking up four on third and seven.
Lance received two snaps during a third and one situation.
On the first play the ball slipped out of Lance’s hand as he tried to pitch the ball to Jeremy McNichols, but he was able to fall on it. Lance bounced back on the next play, finding McNichols off a bootleg to his right for the first down.
Lance then had two throws during the redzone work. Things did not go well, with the quarterback holding onto the ball too long.
On the first play, Lance stared downfield as the defensive line collapsed around him until Taco Charlton got to him for a sack. The coaches let the play continue with Lance scrambling to his right for a touchdown. The next play saw Lance again hold on to the ball before finally throwing behind Dazz Newsome. On a positive note, this play would have been a win for the offense as the defense jumped offside prior to the snap.
Lance wrapped up his day when he was thrown onto the field for the final play of a move the ball possession started by Sam Darnold. Lance tried to hit Isaiah Winstead over the middle, but the pass was behind the receiver resulting in an incompletion.
Lance finished the day 4-7.
Sam Darnold
Darnold opened his day with a shot off play action to Tay Martin who was running a deep curl on the left side.
The veteran opened his next set of downs with a seven-yard completion to Chris Conley on an out along the left sideline. A poor throw on a screen to Brandon Aiyuk led to an incompletion. Another incompletion followed on the next play when Darnold tried to hit Danny Gray across the middle of the field. The pass was on the mark, but Samuel Womack was there to knock the pass away.
Darnold was given a couple of snaps during a third and one session. On his second play, Darnold found rookie tight end Brayden Willis in the right flat for a first down.
Next up for Darnold came redzone work.
On first down the quarterback missed Tay Martin with a short throw while rolling to his right. Two plays later he found Willis open over the middle for a touchdown. It appeared as though there was a coverage bust between linebacker Dee Winters and safety Myles Hartsfield which led to the tight end being wide open.
Darnold opened a move the ball possession with the second team offense to close out practice. On first down he found Danny Gray on the right side for a gain of eight. The coverage was tight, but Darnold put the ball in a good spot and Gray made a strong grab. A few plays later he threw a pass away while rolling to his left and was replaced by Lance for the final snap.
Darnold finished 5-9 with one touchdown.
Danny Gray
Gray returned to the practice field yesterday after missing several days with an injury. Today he showed off his hands with a pair of nice grabs, one from Brock Purdy and one from Sam Darnold.
Brandon Aiyuk
Aiyuk has been very good throughout this training camp. Today he beat Ambry Thomas deep for a big reception from Brock Purdy. He later got open in the endzone for a touchdown.
Brayden Willis
The rookie tight end caught both passes which came his way and made them count. His first grab converted a short third down and his second was a touchdown from Sam Darnold.
Ross Dwelley
Dwelley makes the list today for his run blocking. The tight end did a nice job of sealing the edge on a sweep around the right side leading to a big gain for the offense.
Fred Warner
Ran down Christian McCaffrey to record a tackle for loss on the first play of the day. He did this yesterday as well.
Jalen Graham
The rookie linebacker continues to be impressive. Today he shot the gap for a tackle of Jordan Mason.
If you took the numbers off the jerseys and made Graham and Warner stand side by side, it would be difficult to tell the two apart.
Curtis Robinson
With Oren Burks out for the remainder of training camp, Robinson is getting looks with the first unit.
Today he got his hands on a pair of passes from Brock Purdy, bringing one in for an interception. The former Stanford Cardinal is a standout on special teams and is fighting for a spot on the roster.
Talanoa Hufanga
The free safety read Brock Purdy perfectly on the opening play of the day and came away with a pass break up on a throw to Jauan Jennings.
Tashaun Gipson
The veteran safety was in the right spot to come away with an interception in the endzone after Deommodore Lenoir tipped a pass intended for Brandon Aiyuk. Gipson has recorded four interceptions of Brock Purdy during camp.
Samuel Womack
The second-year cornerback had tight coverage on Danny Gray and was able to break up a pass over the middle.
Womack has struggled at the catch point, making this play even more impressive.
Taco Charlton
Got Trey Lance for a sack during a redzone period. Signed after training camp began, Charlton is making a push to stick on the 53-man roster.
Austin Bryant
Bryant has shown he can get to the quarterback during this camp. Today he showed his ability to stop the run when he got to Ty Davis-Price for a tackle behind the line of scrimmage.
Different day same results. Houston we have a problem. It doesn’t seem to be getting better it seems to get a little worse each day. I have never wanted to be wrong about something so much in my life. I am anxious to see Darnold this week with the starters.
Your sound like an old bitter man. Go chill out. Get a life. Get a job. It will be ok. Overreact to everything in preseason? You must be one of those annoying millennials. CONGRATS MANPON. You would be better served hanging out with Grant fifi Cohn. Hes a perfect blend of annoying, arrogance and overreaction.
Hi Felix
Thanks for your report, Jack.
In your opinion, what are Brock’s Int’s attributed to?
I’m just guessing here, but could the Int’s be a case of Purdy forcing throws and a combination of the defense being more familiar with him now?
I’m not crazy about the Int’s, but I am encouraged at how quickly he shakes them off.
Most of the interceptions are just inaccurate throws or throwing off his back foot under pressure.
The first one yesterday was from this. The second was from giving Aiyuk a chance to make a play, which I chalk up to “testing things”.
Thanks, Jack.
After hearing Shanahan say that he wanted to push Brock’s limit in camp, I’m a little less concerned about the Int’s.
AES,
The one thing that I wish Jack would do more is interact with the posters. I am also curious if there is a pattern to BPs ints. Another question I have for Jack is, is there any difference between having the arm strength to throw the long ball and the arm strength to have zip on the shorter throw?
Coach,
Purdy has plenty of velocity. He is making every throw. I can’t stress this enough.
AES…Nice post..JK…yours also….patience will out Brock Purdy is regaining his strength, and pinpoint accuracy will happen with reps. Did Allen get any reps ? Jack thanks for the comprehensive run down….some of us can’t handle the commute….
Mike,
Is Allen back from the birth of his child?
Coach….Tjhanks for the update…sports news is sort of disjointed up here
Purdy is on the 2nd year welcome to the NFL strech.I said before what happens if Purdy struggles.
Good report from Lombardi’s Youtube re Purdy’s Int’s today. I feel a little better about the Int’s after listening to Lombardi putting them in context.
Lombardi is quickly becoming a “go-to” reporter on all-things 49ers.
AES,
I saw the same report and I have to admit I felt a little better after watching that. I guess I just have to hold my breath until Sept. 9.
This is the “go-to” spot, AES. Also, if you like David you’ll love my channel.
Ha! I have watched your channel Jack. You hit the ground running, “saved this blog” and have not looked back.
Great job!
how about Buster Posey?
“He played four sports in high school;”
tanned, rested, READY!
Ready,
I think the Giants could use him more. He was a shortstop before he was a catcher.
Cohn is just like his father … A big nosed, male high school cheerleader that never played football! Worse, he has literally no knowledge of NFL football! Ignore his inflammatory comments about Brock Purdy and Kyle Shanahan! Big nose needs to get a real life!
Cohn’s father Lowell wants the Niners to dump Lance as soon as possible. Says he has no NFL future and that it was a huge mistake on the part of the Niners organization to give up so much draft capital for him. Grant Cohn looked none too happy when his father went so negative on Lance,”Iggy”, as his dad calls him, being the Lance cheerleader that he is.
JK: Tough little keyboard warrior. Do you feel better now? We don’t!
Based on what I read I’m not the least worried about Purdy to be honest. My biggest worry about him was losing the little arm strength that he had, but it seems he’s fine. The rest he’ll be fine. My guess- they’re trying new things since this is his second year and one would expect to see some mistakes during the learning process.
Now let’s see if defenses can figure him out in this critical year #2. If not, we have a winner.
As an aside, don’t forget he’s going against the best defense in football. He’s still showing some success along with the turnovers. How many decent QBs would you expect to have a good day against us? Not many, unless the defense takes a day off (Raiders game comes to mind last year).
If anyone here was calling for Shanahan’s firing, I’m sure that they were parroting your boy Cohn. Btw, like father like son, daddy Cohn called for Bill Walsh’s firing back in the early 80’s. If you are going to come on here to rip on “Inside the 49ers Blog” posters, at the very least get your history together.
If you look at Brock Purdy’s college stats, there was a clear pattern. Purdy was a freshman and didn’t start the year as the QB. Zeb Noland was the starting QB. Purdy came in around the 5th game of the year and played really well. Was the starter for the remainder of his college career. But he absolutely did not have the same type of stats in year 2-4 that he started with as a freshman. Still really good stats. Completion% got better but a lot of things got worse like Int%, AYA went down, etc. I’m wondering if we’re going to see the same pattern in the NFL. Really wow’d people as a rookie but he’ll settle into a lower level of performance. Still acceptable but maybe not the superstar in the making many people are expecting.
Day 16 Purdy 10-16 and no picks, two dropped picks but no picks. A step in the right direction. I hope they give BP at least one possession on Saturday.
In medical school, I was told about injuries associated with American football. These stories revealed just how intense and risky the sport is. Participants are exposed to potentially hazardous situations that can result in serious injury. Particularly impressive were stories of how medical professionals and coaches work together to prevent and treat player injuries. It showed how important careful medical support and precaution is in this exciting but risky sport.