The final pre-preseason stretch is upon us. Monday was the first of a pair of practices before the 49ers ship off to Las Vegas, and with temperatures touching 90 degrees in Santa Clara, it made for a decent impression of the desert.
Monday’s highlights came from an impressive red zone period from Brock Purdy, and some defensive highlights.
Brock Purdy
Purdy finished the day 8-of-16 with 3 red zone TDs, a deflected INT, and a red zone rushing TD
It must also be mentioned that Brandon Aiyuk was given a day off on Monday. It showed.
After an opening incompletion, Purdy hit Ray-Ray McCloud deep down the right sideline on a slow-developing play-action.
In his first red zone period, Purdy nearly connected with Christian McCaffrey on what was nearly an astounding, leaping grab over tight coverage from Oren Burks. McCaffrey got one foot down, but couldn’t land the second one inbounds. Purdy followed that up with an uncharacteristic miss of Deebo Samuel on an out route, before throwing a screen to McCaffrey.
His next red zone set was flawless. Jauan Jennings separated impressively from Charvarius Ward to the back right pylon and Purdy put the ball where only Jennings could get it, for a touchdown. The next TD was even easier, on a simply slant to Ty Martin. The last one was another impressive grab from the veteran Willie Snead IV, who made a tight window catch to just barely get over the goal line for a third-straight first team touchdown.
Purdy got one more set in the red zone, beginning with a short completion to Deebo Samuel. He and Danny Gray both contributed to a missed touchdown on the following play — Purdy’s ball was a little out of Gray’s reach towards the front left pylon, but it touched both of Gray’s hands. A slightly better ball would’ve gotten the job done, but Gray could’ve made the catch. Purdy recovered by escaping pressure on the next play and beating Fred Warner to the front right pylon for a rushing touchdown.
After leaving the red zone for a situational, move-the-chains drill, Purdy was faced with pressure. He should have had a third-down conversion to Samuel down the left sideline, putting a deep ball in the basket. Samuel, though, couldn’t hang on, which brought up fourth down. He was pressured immediately on that fourth down, and threw up a 50-50 ball to George Kittle, who couldn’t come down a high pass against Tashaun Gipson Sr.
That wouldn’t be the last Purdy would see of Gipson.
On the next series, Purdy had a similar situation with Christian McCaffrey to the deep incompletion to Samuel. He put a ball right on McCaffrey’s right shoulder on a wheel, but McCaffrey was just getting out of his break and starting to turn for the ball and missed it. The two connected on a short completion the following play, but then pressure came again on another fourth down situation. Purdy tried to find Jennings, but the ball was batted by Dre Greenlaw and plucked out of the air by Gipson, who returned it for a pick-six.
Purdy finished his day with a first-down completion to George Kittle in a final move-the-ball series.
That play was preceded by three-straight chunk runs from Christian McCaffrey. McCaffrey was clearly feeling those reps at the end of a substantial practice in the heat. Deebo Samuel, who knows the burden of being leaned on heavily in the 49ers’ offense, flagged down a water and Gatorade for McCaffrey as they watched the rest of the practice together.
Trey Lance
Lance finished 3-of-5 with a likely TD, 2 sacks (an interception and throwaway after the sacks) and a near INT.
His day got off to a tumultuous start. He was would-be sacked by Austin Bryant, then intercepted by a leaping Demetrius Flannigan-Fowles, who lurked in front of a crossing Samuel.
In the red zone, he had a probable touchdown to Chris Conley over the middle. On his next play, he ran up the middle very quickly before being sacked on his final play. In real life, it might’ve been a strip sack.
He got another red zone opportunity and went to McCloud to his left, but short of the end zone. After a Jordan Mason touchdown run, they reset the stage, and Lance took off himself, going out short of the end zone. The series ended with a pass breakup of a dangerous throw to a well-covered Jennings.
In his first move-the-chains period, he completed a well-timed hitch to Jennings, before taking off away from pressure from Spencer Waege.
His day concluded with an incompletion to Martin, who Lance locked in on down the right sideline. Martin was double covered because Lance’s eyes betrayed him and the safety followed Martin. He potentially missed a deep shot to Ronnie Bell, who looked frustrated while breaking away down the left sideline on a go route.
Sam Darnold
Darnold went 4-of-7 with a sack (and a touchdown after it), a near INT, and a flag for a pass over the line of scrimmage.
He opened his register with a completion to Samuel before moving into his red zone period.
He nearly suffered an identical fate to Trey Lance. He forced a ball to McCloud and was nearly picked off, again, by Flannigan-Fowles, who just failed to hang on. He took what would’ve been a sure sack from Kevin Givens on the next attempt, but continued the play to find McCloud in the back left corner of the end zone for a fake touchdown.
On his next series, a move-the-sticks drill, he took a checkdown to Ty Davis-Price before a nearly impressive improvisation. He escaped pressure, rolled right, and completed a short pass to Deebo Samuel, but was flagged for crossing the line of scrimmage.
His ability to buy time showed up on his next set, too. After facing pressure and throwing the ball away, he had a huge completion down the right sideline to Brayden Willis, who was held earlier in the play. He finished with a screen and another throwaway.
Brandon Allen
Allen took one set of three reps, and was sacked twice in a row by T.Y. McGill. He finished the series and his day with a short completion to Mason.