{"id":434891,"date":"2025-10-10T09:18:11","date_gmt":"2025-10-10T09:18:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/434891\/"},"modified":"2025-10-10T09:18:11","modified_gmt":"2025-10-10T09:18:11","slug":"49ers-need-both-brock-purdy-and-mac-jones-so-theres-no-controversy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/434891\/","title":{"rendered":"49ers need both Brock Purdy and Mac Jones, so there’s no controversy"},"content":{"rendered":"

SANTA CLARA \u2014 Brock Purdy was in public view Thursday, doing some backpedaling and less-than-half-speed forward weaves before adjourning to the 49ers\u2019 field house for some lifting and rehab while his teammates began practice.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s shaping up as a fourth start for Mac Jones<\/a> as a 49er at Tampa Bay (1:25 p.m., Fox) in a battle of 4-1 teams<\/a>. The jump-to-conclusions faction on social media is already suggesting it\u2019s a \u201cquarterback controversy.\u201d Or at least a \u201cpotential\u201d quarterback controversy.<\/p>\n

Jones wasn\u2019t doing much during the media window either, with quarterbacks coach Mick Lombardi making throws alongside Adrian Martinez while Jones stood off to the side in uniform and watched.<\/p>\n

The scene put the alleged controversy in its place with Purdy likely to miss his second straight game with right turf toe and Jones doing a slow build toward his fourth start and third in a row with knee and oblique issues.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m getting treatment every day and working and we\u2019ve got a good plan in place,\u201d Jones said. \u201cI feel confident and I\u2019m just working through it day by day.\u201d<\/p>\n

General manager John Lynch told KNBR-680 he had no timetable at all for Purdy but said of Jones, \u201cI think we feel pretty good about where he\u2019s going to be at.\u201d<\/p>\n

How can there be a question about whether Purdy or Jones should be the 49ers\u2019 quarterback going forward when Jones is the only one physically capable?<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the obvious conclusion: The 49ers aren\u2019t going anywhere with just Purdy or just Jones. They\u2019ll need them both.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we all feel blessed and fortunate that we found a guy to be our backup who can go and play like a starter and earn us tough, hard-fought wins,\u201d Lynch said.<\/p>\n

Purdy wasn\u2019t on the field at practice Wednesday as he was in the days leading up to an ill-fated start in a 26-21 loss to Jacksonville<\/a>. No one is coming out and saying it, but either Purdy erred by insisting he was good to go, the medical staff erred by clearing him or coach Kyle Shanahan erred by going along with it.<\/p>\n

Purdy finished the game \u2014 he turned it over three times with two interceptions and a strip-sack fumble \u2014 but going wire to wire clearly did his toe no favors. Former 49er Richard Sherman said on his podcast that he expected Purdy to be out three or four more weeks \u201cjust because of how irritated it got after that game. You don\u2019t want to have those issues lingering through the playoffs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sherman\u2019s not a doctor, but he knows people on the 49ers and in their organization.<\/p>\n

When the 49ers beat the Los Angeles Rams last Thursday night, Purdy wasn\u2019t even there, even though it was a one-hour flight and not a cross-country trip.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe thought when he traveled the first time, he was a little sore after it, so we just don\u2019t want him to fly for that reason,\u201d Shanahan said.<\/p>\n

\"San<\/p>\n

Jose Carlos Fajardo\/Bay Area News Group<\/p>\n

Quarterback Mac Jones (10) passes against the Arizona Cardinals on a rollout in a 16-15 for the 49ers at Levi’s Stadium.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s done is done. Purdy is far from the first professional athlete who pushed himself physically a little too hard, the team went along and he paid the price.<\/p>\n

Now the question is: How long should Purdy sit? That will be up to the medical staff, but if the 49ers wanted to go the \u201cbetter safe than sorry\u201d route, they\u2019d put him on injured reserve and he\u2019d have to miss a minimum of four more games \u2014 making his earliest return Nov. 9 against the Rams at Levi\u2019s Stadium.<\/p>\n

When I put the question to Shanahan Wednesday he said, \u201cThere hasn\u2019t been a thought on I.R. and he\u2019s progressing.\u201d<\/p>\n

So we can assume Shanahan expects to get Purdy back inside of four games, with Jones continuing to pick up the slack if he can remain healthy, which was a viable question when Martinez nearly had to take the field in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n

Jones affords the 49ers something other teams in their position don\u2019t have: a quarterback capable of leading them to the playoffs. In Tampa Bay, Baker Mayfield is generating way-too-early MVP talk. But it\u2019s no exaggeration that he has been one of the NFL\u2019s best quarterbacks through five games and the dropoff from Mayfield to Teddy Bridgewater is precipitous.<\/p>\n

The Baltimore Ravens played without Lamar Jackson Sunday and lost 44-10 to Houston with backup Cooper Rush. The Cincinnati Bengals just traded for 40-year-old Joe Flacco and immediately gave him the job.<\/p>\n

The Bengals did this because their own franchise quarterback, Joe Burrow, is out with a case of turf toe that needed surgery, ostensibly much more serious than what Purdy is dealing with. Yet it can be serious enough to end a career, as it did with Hall of Fame cornerback Deion Sanders.<\/p>\n

In Charles Woodson\u2019s second year with the Raiders, he came out of Week 2 with turf toe. Woodson was diligent about remaining out of the public eye when injured. But it didn\u2019t seem like a big deal because he was still playing on Sundays and playing pretty well.<\/p>\n

Then one day, reporters got let in a little early, with Woodson\u2019s locker near the entrance. Woodson\u2019s toe was exposed and the sight of it was sickening. It was bent, splayed and swollen. One could only imagine what it felt like to walk, let alone play football.<\/p>\n

Woodson, being a young player in his second year, missed only one start. How? He rarely practiced. Almost never did, in fact. He\u2019d get his toe to the point where he could take a painkilling injection on Sunday, then start the whole process over the next week.<\/p>\n

Since he was a cornerback left on an island and quarterbacks were still wary of testing him, Woodson got by. As a quarterback, Purdy can\u2019t miss practice all week and then play on Sunday. He needs that toe to push off and throw downfield. Needs it to scramble and stay out of trouble.<\/p>\n

While it\u2019s not fair to compare Purdy\u2019s turf toe with Burrow, Sanders or Woodson, it does give a glimpse into a toe-joint injury that is largely misunderstood.<\/p>\n

And if the 49ers were to put Purdy on injured reserve, the gamble would be on Jones making it through those four games before going back to Purdy. That\u2019s where the 49ers are different than most teams. Jones leads the NFL in pass attempts per game, completions per game and yardage per game. There isn\u2019t another backup in the league who can match him.<\/p>\n

Shanahan admits that Martinez, who was ready to go into the game against the Rams, represents the great unknown. He played collegiately at Kansas State and Nebraska and in the United Football League, but he has no NFL passes outside the preseason.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you\u2019re in a 20-20 game or whatever it was at the time and someone\u2019s taking over, you\u2019re going to do what you\u2019ve got to do,\u201d Shanahan said. \u201cIn certain situations, you\u2019ve got to find out.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 49ers would rather not find out. If you\u2019ve got two quarterbacks capable of winning, it\u2019s a good problem to have and there\u2019s nothing controversial about it.<\/p>\n

Originally Published: October 9, 2025 at 4:45 AM PDT<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SANTA CLARA \u2014 Brock Purdy was in public view Thursday, doing some backpedaling and less-than-half-speed forward weaves before…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":378783,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2080],"tags":[220,2644,18356,11,7,1577,2812,5215,6,1161,252,2624,2623,250,300],"class_list":{"0":"post-434891","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-francisco-49ers","8":"tag-49ers","9":"tag-brock-purdy","10":"tag-charles-woodson","11":"tag-deion-sanders","12":"tag-football","13":"tag-joe-burrow","14":"tag-kyle-shanahan","15":"tag-mac-jones","16":"tag-nfl","17":"tag-san-francisco","18":"tag-san-francisco-49ers","19":"tag-sanfrancisco","20":"tag-sanfrancisco49ers","21":"tag-tampa-bay-buccaneers","22":"tag-teddy-bridgewater"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115349127661120552","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/434891","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=434891"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/434891\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/378783"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=434891"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=434891"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=434891"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}