Brock Purdy hasn’t discussed starting against Pittsburgh with Kyle Shanahan

The San Francisco 49ers QB battle has begun. Brock Purdy has returned to practicing with the team for training camp, and now it’s all eyes on him, Trey Lance, and maybe Sam Darnold.

But while Purdy is taking snaps with the first team, there isn’t anything discussed who is the Week 1 starter. When asked if Kyle Shanahan laid out his plans for who would be under center against the Pittsburgh Steelers, Purdy responded in the negative.

“No, we haven’t had any kind of conversation like that.” Purdy said during his press conference after Thursday’s practice. “It's ‘hey, how can I be great today at practice? Let’s get these reps, let’s get the mental reps and let’s continue to grow.’ Obviously, what we put on tape last year was great and all, but there’s still a lot of areas where I have to grow and get better and stuff. So that’s just where we’re at. We’re not trying to get too far ahead of ourselves.”

A decision will have to be made and while Purdy is the clear front-runner, it’s far from guaranteed.

Purdy didn’t have the greatest of days on Thursday, but neither did Trey Lance. Lance threw an interception and Purdy should have thrown one as well, but his would-be pick was dropped.

It’s important to note that Thursday was Day 2. There’s a lot of training camp and a lot of football left to play before we can anoint anyone the starting role. Trey Lance has shown immense improvement, but we need to see him do it with the pads on in 11-on-11 drills. Brock Purdy had a bad day, but it also was his first day back, and he’s coming off an injury.

It’s also worth noting the defenses are usually much faster and more in sync at the start of camp than the offense. I’m sure everyone remembers 2022 training camp and how many picks got gifted in the early weeks of that season.

At the very least, Brock Purdy won’t be sidelined in Week 1 because of a complication with his rehab, which is all you can ask for.