Brock Purdy and several other of the starting offensive players for the San Francisco 49ers will get one final preseason tuneup before the season opener with a few notable exceptions.
After Purdy struggled playing with mostly backups last week against New Orleans, coach Kyle Shanahan has said he plans to play several more starters this week with star pass catchers such as Deebo Samuel and George Kittle expecting to get on the field for the first time this preseason.
The Niners will be without All-Pro running back Christian McCaffrey, who is nursing a calf injury, and two of their other most important players who are in long-standing contract disputes. All-Pro left tackle Trent Williams has held out all camp in search of a new deal and second-team All-Pro receiver Brandon Aiyuk has been a contract “hold in” in search of either a trade or a lucrative extension.
General manager John Lynch told flagship radio station KNBR on Thursday that the sides have all been communicating, but there still haven't been any “breakthroughs” to resolve the situation.
“I know fans are eagerly awaiting, and the season’s right around the corner," Lynch said. "I can tell everybody this: We feel the urgency to get all our players back. We’re very excited about our team, and those are two guys that have been a big part of us, a huge part of our success. So we’d like to have them both back in the fold.”
Purdy missed those two and the other sitting starters during his three drives last Sunday against the Saints. He went 2 for 6 for 11 yards, was sacked once and took three hits as the San Francisco offense generated only one first down with him on the field.
He's hoping to end the preseason with a better performance leading into the opener Sept. 9 against the New York Jets.
“Obviously you want to get as close as you can to the feeling of how it’s going to be Week 1 against New York and getting your feet out there and that feeling of putting a drive together, moving the ball, first downs, points on the board,” he said. “I think that’s what I’m sort of going to chase for that game. I know we all are as starters. That’s the goal.”
The Niners head into the final preseason game with very few lingering questions outside of the contract status of Aiyuk and Williams. Most of the starting spots have been settled with third-round rookie Dominick Puni taking advantage of injuries to Spencer Burford and Jon Feliciano to step into the starting right guard role.
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Puni, who played left tackle at Kansas last season, has made the adjustment to moving inside this summer and has been impressive in practices and the first two exhibition games. He has allowed only one pressure in 44 pass blocking snaps, according to Pro Football Focus.
“I feel like I’m doing pretty good," he said. "Every day is like another step toward learning something new. Especially in this offense, which is a difficult offense to jump in and learn for your first time. Just taking it day by day, learning the playbook. There still are little details within every play that I need to get better at.”
On defense, there are still questions about the third cornerback alongside Charvarius Ward and Deommodore Lenoir with free agent acquisition Isaac Yiadom dealing the past few weeks with an ankle injury. Second-round rookie Renardo Green has shown some flashes early and could be in the mix if Yiadom isn't ready.
The other uncertainty is at linebacker with veteran Dre Greenlaw expected to start the season on the physically unable to perform list recovering from a ruptured Achilles tendon in the Super Bowl loss.
De'Vondre Campbell is expected to get one spot alongside All-Pro Fred Warner with second-year players Dee Winters and Jalen Graham fighting for the other.
“The linebacker room is really a competitive group right now, as you’ve seen,” defensive coordinator Nick Sorensen said. "Dee and Jalen from last year to this year progressed a lot after that rookie season. But it’s just all of them together have kind of made it competitive and progressed together. It’s really going to be a tough decision for us.”
