Brock Purdy steps up; Observations from day 5 of 49ers training camp

 

The 49ers held their first padded practice of training camp on Monday. It was also their longest.

Here is what stood out from the 49ers fifth day of training camp in Santa Clara.

Brock Purdy

Purdy returned to the practice field after having a scheduled day off on Sunday.

One of the areas Purdy needed to address this offseason was stepping up in the pocket. Too often during his rookie season Purdy would bounce out the back of the pocket to his left when faced with pressure.

In the first live padded practice of camp, Purdy stepped up into the pocket several times for completions. The best came when he stepped forward and found Christian McCaffrey down the left seam for a long touchdown. Later during a move the ball period, Purdy again moved forward and found Deebo Samuel on a shallow crosser to convert a third and five situation.

The day wasn’t completely smooth for Purdy who threw his second interception of training camp and had the ball knocked out of his hand in the pocket leading to a fumble.

Purdy’s interception came when he tried to hit George Kittle on a deep out. Kittle looked open initially, but linebacker Dre Greenlaw was able to get underneath the tight end to come up with the turnover.

During an extended move the ball period Purdy was excellent, connecting on six of seven attempts. The lone incompletion came when Purdy went deep to Brandon Aiyuk and Deommodore Lenoir leading to a pass interference on the defensive back.

Trey Lance

Kyle Shanahan talks about the need for players to stack good days together. That’s exactly what Trey Lance has done. After going 5-8 with a touchdown Sunday, Lance came back today and completed nine of eleven attempts.

Lance’s first throw of team set the tone. Following play action, Lance drilled a throw over the middle to Danny Gray. The throw was so strong that you could hear the ball hit the chest plate of Gray’s shoulder pads.

The strong day for Lance continued during move the ball period with Lance leading the second team offense to three first downs and a long field goal in four attempts.

Facing third and ten on the second series, Lance uncorked a terrific pass to Chris Conley along the right sideline to pick up the first down. What made this play so nice was the timing by Lance. The quarterback hit his back foot and the ball was coming out well before Conley finished his break.

On the next series Lance again faced a third down situation. Needing to pick up two yards, Lance stood in against a blitz and delivered a strike to Brandon Aiyuk to convert.

Lance delivered again on third down to wrap up his final series of the day. Facing third and 14, he connected with Tay Martin along the right sideline for a gain of 12, setting up a field goal attempt.

Sam Darnold

Darnold split his reps behind the second and third team offensive lines today. Like Lance, Darnold has stacked a pair of good days together. The veteran followed up his 8-10 performance on Sunday by connecting on seven of nine.

Like Purdy and Lance, Darnold did a good job of moving the offense. Facing third and eight on his first series, Darnold stepped up and connected with rookie wide receiver Ronnie Bell over the middle for a gain of ten.

On the next series, Darnold again connected with Bell on a throw to the right flat while rolling ot his right to convert a third and two situation.

The third down conversions didn’t end there for Darnold. Facing third and eight on the next possession he drilled a throw over the middle to Ray-Ray McCloud for a gain of 15.

Darnold finished his day by converting another third down with a throw to Danny Gray leading to a long field goal by Zane Gonzalez to finish practice.

Brandon Allen

With the return of Purdy, Allen saw his snaps reduced. He completed one of four attempts on the day.

Christian McCaffrey

McCaffrey returned to practice after taking a vet day on Sunday.

The running back showed off his explosiveness on a run over the left side, running through the 49ers defense for a long gain. McCaffrey also connected with Brock Purdy three times, including the long touchdown mentioned earlier.

Deebo Samuel

Deebo Samuel brought his big boy pads for the first padded practice of camp. Samuel looked explosive on a couple of runs, one ending with a loud thump when he lowered his shoulder and ran through an attempted tackle in the secondary.

Samuel also made his presence felt in the passing game with a reception from Purdy to convert on third down and a deep shot from Sam Darnold which resulted in a pass interference.

Brandon Aiyuk

For the second year in a row, Brandon Aiyuk was a catalyst to the first fight of training camp. The wideout and Dre Greenlaw began jawing between plays, leading to fisticuffs between the offense and defense.

Aiyuk saw just two targets today but made them count. The wideout got behind Deommodore Lenoir leading to a long pass interference and later picked up a first down on a short crosser from Trey Lance.

Ray-Ray McCloud

Monday was the busiest day of camp so far for McCloud. The veteran receiver caught all three targets which came his way including a pair of third down conversions over the middle, one from Lance and one from Darnold.

Ronnie Bell

The rookie wide receiver didn’t have a target through the first four practices of camp. Today he had three passes come his way and caught them all with two of them resulting in third down conversions.

Jordan Mason and Marcelino McCray-Ball

The second year running back and linebacker combined for the biggest collision of the day. Mason found a hole up the middle with the two meeting with a loud pop five yards past the line of scrimmage.

Jaylon Moore

Moore took all of the snaps at left tackle for the second consecutive practice. He held up well during on-n-one drills and this carried over to the team periods. Moore looks much improved over a season ago and appears to be the front runner for the 49ers swing tackle role.

Jack Colletto

The undrafted free agent fullback caught a pass from Brandon Allen. He also had a nice lead block which helped Jordan Mason pick up 15 yards on a run up the middle.

Javon Kinlaw

Kinlaw came into camp in the best shape of his career, and it showed today. The fourth year defensive tackle looked explosive during his one-on-one reps with the offensive line and this carried over to the rest of the day.

On one pass rush Kinlaw ran through Nick Zakelj leading to a quick checkdown. He also showed up in run defense with a pair of tackles at the line of scrimmage.

Alex Barrett

Barrett looked like the 49ers best defensive end on the field. setting the edge in the run game leading to a tackle for loss and putting pressure on the quarterback. The veteran faces an uphill climb to make the roster, but he made a strong case for himself today.

Dre Greenlaw

Greenlaw was fired up today, as evidenced by his jawing with Brandon Aiyuk. The linebacker also showed off his coverage skills by gaining enough depth to get underneath George Kittle and coming away with an interception.

Samuel Womack

The cornerback tackled Christian McCaffrey at the line of scrimmage on a run to the left. He also made a tackle for loss on a completion from Sam Darnold to Willie Snead in the left flat.

D’Shawn Jamison

Jamison drew praise from Brandon Aiyuk. Today it was John Lynch’s turn to compliment Jamison’s performance early in camp. According to Lynch, the undrafted rookie free agent has performed well enough to earn looks in the slot in addition to his reps on the outside.