Kyle Shanahan Says Brock Purdy Would ‘Have to Melt in Practice’ to Lose QB1 Job

The 49ers coach said that Purdy has a firm grasp on the starting quarterback job.

As fans and media outside of the 49ers facility wondered whether or not Brock Purdy would be the starting quarterback after his emergence late last season, those in and around the franchise have never had a doubt.

In fact, San Francisco coach Kyle Shanahan’s only concern was with Purdy’s recovery from his offseason elbow surgery. Assuming Purdy would come back healthy (he has), he was without a doubt the team’s starting quarterback heading into this season.

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“The games Brock played in, he played at as high a level as you can ask for, as consistent a level as you can ask for,” Shanahan told Sports Illustrated‘s Albert Breer. “Hell yeah, you can win with that and be very happy with that. That was [seven full] games, there’s a lot that goes into it, and we’ll see how it goes. I mean, we played good enough in those games to say we’re going with him this year. …He’s been [the starter] since last year ended. He was always clearly our starter, but there were so many questions about his injury, how he’d come back from it, that we didn’t even know if he’d be ready for this year, so we had to prepare for everything else.”

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As for what it would take for Purdy to lose the starting job, Shanahan was blunt.

“He would have to melt in practice to lose it,” Shanahan said. “And Brock’s too good of a player to melt in practice—and so are the other guys.”

The 49ers are expected to once again be a Super Bowl contender in the NFC, but this year, Purdy won’t be sneaking up on anybody.