Your daily San Francisco 49ers news for Thursday, December 19th, 2024
The 49ers have zero doubts about Brock Purdy’s value — but his price is a huge question (paywall)
“At his best, Purdy is a top-10 QB with four career playoff victories and a Super Bowl start already in his ledger. At his worst? Well, he’s currently 15th in passer rating and 10th in QBR — that’s a pretty solid baseline, and he’s younger than every QB currently ahead of him in either category except Washington rookie Jayden Daniels, who is 10th in passer rating and fifth in QBR.
That all could seem fairly convoluted. But people I trust don’t think it’s very tough to decipher. Purdy deserves a big deal, probably worth over $50 million a year, but well short of resetting the market for the position. The 49ers are sure about him, but realistic. He’s their best option at QB for now and should only get better as this contract ages. If he’s good, the Shanahan/Lynch era will continue and they’ll be contenders almost every season. And the 49ers’ negotiators will also make sure they’re protected in some way in case Purdy isn’t so good in 2025 and 2026. Either way, Purdy will likely have another shot at a huge payday before he’s 30.”
49ers hope re-signing Greenlaw is team’s top offseason priority
“The 49ers signed Greenlaw early in the 2022 season to a two year, $16.4 million contract extension through this season. He is scheduled to be an unrestricted free agent in mid-March.
Until then, the 49ers hold sole negotiating rights and have the ability to prevent him from hitting the open market.”
Oh man! Brock Purdy’s regression tied to 49ers’ issues against tight coverage (paywall)
“Per PFF, Purdy has made 23 throws against “other coverages” this season, which are mostly red-zone or goal-line coverages. It’s an area of the field in which defenses often employ man-to-man because the risk of being beaten with a deep pass is largely negated by the back of the end zone.
On those 23 “other” throws, Purdy has completed 52.2% of his passes and posted a 74.6 rating. Last season, when he had 19 such throws, he completed 68.4% of his passes and had a 130.3 rating.
Purdy has been asked about the offense’s issues against man coverage this season. He said in October that facing man coverage requires him to try to identify his best matchup before the snap based on defensive tells.
“Are they doubling a guy?” Purdy said. “Are they not? What’s the leverage? And then what’s our matchup? Is it a linebacker on a tight end? Or a safety on a tight end? There’s a lot of things that go into that and what’s my best matchup in this situation?
“Man coverage is trying to find your best matchup and a guy that can create separation. (Against) zone coverage, you’re just trying to be on time and throw to spots and windows. I feel like that’s like the biggest difference.”
The inability of 49ers’ pass-catchers to separate from man coverage has upset the rhythm of the 49ers’ offense and led to Purdy often holding the ball before fleeing the pocket on a scramble.”
Shanahan details how players reacted to 49ers moving on from Campbell
“We didn’t see each other over the weekend so I didn’t talk a ton about it after the game,” Shanahan said. “But I could hear from their comments how some of them felt.
“We addressed it for about 30 seconds in the meeting on Monday, and it’s pretty easy to move on.”
Kyle Shanahan: 49ers were aware of De’Vondre Campbell risks, ‘made mistake’ (paywall)
“Yeah, of course,” Shanahan said. “We look into all that. It was tough losing Dre. We knew we were going to need a starting-caliber linebacker … I was with De’Vondre his rookie year in Atlanta, so I knew what he was capable of. Not that I was real close with the defensive guys being the offensive coordinator, but I know we liked him in that building.
“I know a lot of guys who have coached him who have been good (with him). And we obviously made a mistake. It’s not something that we didn’t look into. We look into everything. You weigh the risk (and) reward of stuff. You weigh the situation that you have and what decision you can make in terms of the options.”
49ers Injuries: More questions at RB, key piece may not return
“If he could get back to healthy, we’d play him,” Kyle Shanahan said. “But it’s not like that right now. It’s getting closer to being that way.”
Williams won’t practice Wednesday, and he’s not alone. Rookie running back Isaac Guerendo is out of practice with a hamstring injury. He missed almost all of training camp with a substantial hamstring injury, something that was a concern for him coming out of college. Below is the rest of the 49ers’ practice report, per Shanahan.”
Why Shanahan is confident struggling Deebo hasn’t lost a step
“I think he got banged up earlier in the year,” Shanahan said. “He had an awesome training camp to where I’d say he didn’t slow down at all. We were real excited going into the year.”
Samuel sustained a calf injury that kept him out of the lineup for the 49ers’ Week 3 game against the Los Angeles Rams.
He returned to action after spending two nights in the hospital with pneumonia. And he’s also been bothered by ribs and oblique injuries.
“That set him off for a month where he couldn’t practice,” Shanahan said. “When you build up a bunch in camp and you miss a lot of practice, it is hard to maintain that stuff.”