Subscribe
Follow Us
When San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan made the decision to sit Brock Purdy for a meaningless Week 18 finale against the Los Angeles Rams, some questioned the wisdom of the move. Chief among them? Brock Purdy himself.
The 49ers' MVP contender wasn't sure sitting out the final regular season game was best for him. “That’s something I brought up to Kyle” Purdy confirmed, per the San Francisco Chronicle's Eric Branch.
Shanahan was able to assuage Purdy's concerns by pointing out that the second-year signal caller hasn't struggled with similar layoffs in the past.
Purdy calmed by recent history
For instance, Purdy went 16 days without snaps between the team's preseason finale and its Week 1 throttling of the Pittsburgh Steelers. Coming back from Niners' Week 9 bye, Purdy produced the second-best passer rating of his NFL career in a drubbing of the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Because San Francisco clinched the NFC's no. 1 seed and a first round bye, Purdy will go, at a minimum, 19 days between game action. After Sunday, the 49ers won't take the field until either January 20 or 21st in the NFC Divisional Round.
Purdy seemed to take comfort in the context Shanahan gave him. “That’s something that feels good to go back and remind myself about,” said Purdy.
He also knows that he's going to get plenty of challenging work in practice from his own teammates in the meantime.
“And not only that, I’m going to be practicing against a really good defense – obviously our guys – for a couple weeks, too. It’s not like I’m going to be sitting on the couch for the next couple weeks doing absolutely nothing.”
Purdy can rest easy because of Shanahan's wisdom. And his own resume.
