With a game against the NFC West rival Los Angeles Rams coming up Thursday, San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy (toe) said he has not been ruled out from playing in it.
Purdy missed Weeks 2 and 3 due to a toe injury but returned Sunday. The fourth-year quarterback told reporters following the 49ers’ 26-21 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars that he didn’t have any issues during the game. But as the evening passed, he said pain began to set in, prompting a call to head coach Kyle Shanahan to inform him of that.
Purdy was listed as a non-participant in practice each of the past two days, and he’s running out of time to practice given the short turnaround. It doesn’t help Purdy that San Francisco had just a walk-through Tuesday and have no more full practices before playing Thursday night.
“If I can play this game, I want to play,” Purdy said. “Obviously, I want to get right and get healthy and everything, but we need to win this game against the Rams. So that’s how I’m looking at it.”
Shanahan said Tuesday the choice on who to start, Purdy or backup Mac Jones, will come down to how effective the team feels Purdy can be.
“It’ll come down to do we feel he could play and to 100 percent of his ability, and do we feel that he can protect himself with it?” Shanahan said.
Both the 49ers and Rams are 3-1 heading into their key divisional matchup in Los Angeles on Thursday night. While the Rams have played all non-NFC West opponents thus far, the Niners beat the other two NFC West foes, the Seahawks and Cardinals.
Purdy added that he didn’t aggravate the injury on any one play; it was just a build-up after playing in the game. He also said it feels better than when he first hurt it in Week 1 vs. the Seahawks.
Purdy has completed 48 of 73 passes for 586 yards, with four touchdowns and four interceptions, in his two games as a starter. Jones is 53-of-80 passing for 563 yards, with four scores and one pick while going 2-0 in his two games.
Also worth noting is the Niners’ pass-catching corps has been short-handed — tight end George Kittle (hamstring) and receiver Brandon Aiyuk (knee) have been out — and that could get even worse this week, as receivers Jauan Jennings (ankle) and Ricky Pearsall (knee) did not practice Tuesday.
