Kyle Shanahan on new 49ers starting quarterback Brock Purdy

The quarterback carousel continues to turn for the 49ers. Trey Lance was lost for the season to a broken ankle in week two and Jimmy Garoppolo is now out after suffering a foot injury against Miami.

Next up is rookie Brock Purdy. As should be expected, Kyle Shanahan fielded several questions about the young signal caller during his Wednesday press conference.

Here is what the head coach had to say.

What’s the biggest thing for you guys now with Brock Purdy as your starter?

They have a similar skillset. We have a lot of confidence in Brock. We’ve seen him in practice, our players have. That’s why we were confident in him. But he hasn’t played a ton of football so there is some unknown out there. We know he has the ability to go it. We know he has the mentality to do it. Don’t like how we got to this point, but we are definitely excited about the option that we do have.

What’s the biggest improvement you’ve seen in Brock Purdy since he got here?

He didn’t get many opportunities in OTA’s. Most of that went to Trey (Lance) and Nate (Sudfeld). Whenever he did you could see what he showed you guys on Sunday. Each time we picked it up he just showed more of that. He’s very aggressive in what he does. Sometimes that can keep both teams in the game so that’s stuff that you need to work on as you play more but that’s where you want to start with it. When a guy can make some plays like he does he gives you a chance to win and we need to figure out the best way to win with him.

Is that what you liked in the preseason, that aggressive way that he runs the offense?

I like when a play is there that guys aren’t scared to make it. They don’t hesitate, they don’t take a second look at it. They let it rip and they worry about it after. A lot of guys who just guess do that too, so you’ve got to find out whether they’re being aggressive, are they deciding then to do it or if they’re deciding on Wednesday. That’s a big difference. Brock has been very good with it; he can explain what he sees and that’s why we have a lot of confidence in him.

You’ve mentioned a number of times with Brock that you like the experience, the number of games he played in college. How can that experience help?

I just think when you are a four-year starter in a big conference you’ve just been in some pressure. You’ve done it a lot. You have to come in there as a freshman when you’re the youngest on the team. To be able to do that four years in a row, you can tell when guys have done that. They’ve just been under center a bunch. They understand just how to play the game. They’ve been in it a lot. They’ve been in a lot of situations. Now he needs to see there’s a huge different in the league. You can talk about a lot of things, but you can tell he’s been in it, and I think that’s how he knows how to play fast.

How has Brock carried himself this week?

He’s carried himself the same way. Brock’s got a good edge to him. He’s quiet but I think he’s more respectful just being the younger guy in the room. You can tell how the rookies gravitate to him. He’s got good command over them. Our scout team from Fred and those guys, they love him. He’s aggressive over there. He’s not shy in anything he does. He’s fit in with our team well. He’s understood his role and now it’s gotten a lot bigger, but I don’t think he’s changed anything. He just keeps being him and we’ll see how it plays out.

Can you compare the difference, the process, you and the coaching staff going from Trey to Jimmy and now from Jimmy to Brock? 

I think it was a little bit bigger going from Trey to Jimmy just in terms of the running element that Trey had. Just how we looked at a gameplan, how we positioned the formations and stuff to always keep him as a threat as a runner.

Jimmy and Brock aren’t necessarily running threats, so you don’t sit there and design stuff like that. But they’re definitely mobile enough to make plays with their legs.

There were a few plays where it looked like Christian had some choice routes that Brock read really well and had a feel for where he was going to go. What was your impression of his feel for those types of things and his anticipation?  

He’s trying to hit someone deeper and the hole was there but we got rerouted a little bit so he couldn’t quite get to the hole. A lot of times when the hole is there guys will just throw it and it will sail over and go to a cover two safety. He was able to wait on it as long as he could, and then he moved the linebacker, and he got it right to Christian (McCaffrey). It’s a second and eight checkdown, but because of the way you look with your eyes, the timing, how you get there, it’s a nine-yard gain instead of a four yard gain. Plays like that you never have to see third down and those usually are to me the biggest plays in the game that nobody accounts for.