And then Brandon Allen fits in somewhere
It’s Saturday and a day off of training camp for the San Francisco 49ers. This works for Brock Purdy, who gets a day off as well since the 49ers said he will not throw three days in a row.
But how has everything been distributed the last couple of days? Well, Per Matt Maiocco, the split percentages are below over the last two days (the days Purdy has been on the field):
Brock Purdy 41.6%
Trey Lance 21.8%
Sam Darnold 18.8%
Brandon Allen 17.8%
I know what you’re thinking: Why are we even talking about this? I have an answer: Because a lot of people are judging everything by how many reps a QB has. On Day 3. So if you’re looking at the above, Purdy clearly is getting time with the 1s.
Yeah, nothing we didn’t already know. It’s been pretty well hinted that Purdy would be starting with the 1s if healthy, and he’s been cleared, so no change.
It’s not Purdy though that’s interesting. It’s this observation by Mike Silver:
I am struck by how many reps fourth QB Brandon Allen is getting relative to the number of reps Brock Purdy (as the third QB) got in 2022. Makes you wonder… https://t.co/YLCkTY5y6C
— Michael Silver (@MikeSilver) July 29, 2023
Brandon Allen may have some attention in the coming weeks. Not by just the 49ers, but by the Cincinnati Bengals. Recently, starting quarterback Joe Burrow went down with what has been reported as a calf injury. It was initially speculated as a possible Achilles tear, so this is the best scenario. Burrow is out for only a few weeks and may just miss training camp.
The thing is, Brandon Allen came from the Cincinnati Bengals and while they weren’t too keen on re-signing him, they might want to look into someone familiar with the system if it were to be any possibility that Burrow were to miss some extended time. Allen is familiar with the system and if there’s a setback, it may be beneficial for the Bengals to send a late-round pick to the 49ers to get their quarterback back.
Of course, if Allen sticks around, he’s getting more reps, that could prove either the 49ers want to kick the tires on something or they really need a QB3 behind whoever the understudy to Brock Purdy is.
Or they have the keen foresight to know they will go through their third QB before the season is over. Don’t say it won’t happen, we all know what happened in the NFC Championship game.