Some people will try and push the idea that “numbers never lie.” For Brock Purdy’s training camp debut, they might.
Purdy was back with the 49ers on Thursday for their second training camp practice after missing Wednesday’s opener as part of a scheduled day off.
While Purdy was able to make all the throws, he struggled in team drills with multiple reporters tracking him as 3-for-10 with an interception during team drills. Those numbers aren’t good, but they’re far from meaningful at this point for the second-year QB. His health is most important, and he told reporters in a post-practice press conference that he’s still working his way back into form.
“Yeah, I mean there’s just some rust I still got to knock off,” Purdy said. “I obviously didn’t get any reps and OTAs or anything like that with 11-on-11, seven-on-seven, whatever. Just the pace of the game, seeing a defense, dropping back, going through reads. So today it was good just to get out there, go through some reads and stuff, let it rip.”
Practices are for working things out and trying some things outside of the high-pressure environment of a game even when a player is healthy. A player working his way back from injury has even more leeway.
Regardless of the injury situation though it’s imperative that Purdy continues improving while getting his sea legs (arms?) back. He didn’t chalk up his interception to his injury.
“Obviously, I had the interception, but you know, that’s something I’m going to just go in the film room, learn from it and get on the same page with [WR Brandon Aiyuk] B.A. and continue to grow,” Purdy said. “And so yeah, more than anything I was just excited to be able to get live reps.”
For the early part of camp Purdy will get two days of practice, then take a day off. That should give him plenty of opportunities to knock rust off before stepping back in as the team’s starting signal caller for the regular season.
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