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The San Francisco 49ers were dealt a bad hand in the NFC Championship Game against the Philadelphia Eagles. They had already lost two starting quarterbacks during the regular season. QB3, rookie Brock Purdy, stepped in during Week 13, and the 49ers kept winning football games.
Purdy's impressive run ended on that January 29 afternoon, though. The quarterback suffered a tear of the ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) in his right elbow, making it impossible to throw the football. Tight end George Kittle, joking with his quarterback, asked if there was any chance he was ambidextrous and could throw left-handed.
That wasn't going to happen.
The 49ers had overcome a lot this season, though. They weren't about to assume things were coming to a crashing end.
"Well, when Brock went down and [QB] Josh [Johnson] went in, we were all still confident," running back Christian McCaffrey told Steve Covino and Rich Davis of FOX Sports' Covino & Rich show on Wednesday in Arizona. "We knew we had a fight. And then when [Johnson] went down—you're never out of the fight. There's always something that could happen. You could get a pick-six, special teams could return one, keep you in the game. You're just trying to string together as many plays as possible to try to win.
"But it's tough, man. Looking back on the game, I think in the heat of battle, you're confident. And then, looking back on the game, you just wish you had a fair shot. Obviously, we got beat and we didn't have a fair shot because of the plays that those guys made, and so props to them. But it's like fighting with one arm. You just feel like you had something ripped from you."
Purdy ended up returning to the game after Johnson exited with a concussion. However, the 49ers couldn't ask Purdy to throw the football, handicapping the offense.
"What were you supposed to do in a moment like that?" McCaffrey's 49ers teammate, wide receiver Deebo Samuel, said on Wednesday. "We didn't want our season to end that way. If anything, we wanted to put up a fight instead of not having a chance."
For a moment before Purdy's return, it looked like McCaffrey was getting prepared for the possibility of entering the game at quarterback, an emergency situation that was nerve-wracking for the running back.
"If you know Kyle's system, it's very difficult to learn," McCaffrey explained. "It's difficult to learn as a running back. And so everyone's like, 'You should have went in at quarterback.' I'm like, 'I don't know if you understand what it takes to play quarterback.' There's a reason it's the highest-paid [position] in the league. It's tough. And so at that point, we were just in desperation mode, trying to see if, 'Hey, maybe we have a flea flicker here.'"
The loss was heartbreaking for McCaffrey and the 49ers. The running back had never made it that deep into the postseason. So to have the opportunity to appear in a Super Bowl ripped away like that was a tough way to go out.
"I think it'll bug us, everyone on the team, until we start getting ramped up again," McCaffrey admits. "And I know that because even the years that I got hurt, man, there wasn't a day that I woke up where I wasn't bitter and pissed off and angry. And you put on a smile, but that's just the real emotions of the sport. And then you got to listen to people talk about it, and it doesn't help."
He admits the chatter can be motivating, though.
"It 100 percent keeps you in the game, and there's a reason for everything, and I fully believe that," McCaffrey continued. "And you got to find ways to find gratitude and to be thankful for the journey. There's been seasons where we won five games, and I was here doing the same thing.
"To be able to even play in an NFC Championship and the whirlwind of a year that we had, you just got to keep working. At the end of the day, it's all about football. It's all about perfecting your craft, training, getting bigger, faster, stronger, perfecting the playbook."
49ers sign WR Trent Taylor, reuniting with former draft pick
By David Bonilla
Apr 16
The San Francisco 49ers announced the signing of wide receiver Trent Taylor to a one-year deal, reuniting with the team's former fifth-round draft pick out of Louisiana Tech.
Matt Maiocco of NBC Sports Bay Area was the first to report that the 49ers were discussing a potential reunion with Taylor. The receiver was part of head coach Kyle Shanahan and general manager John Lynch's first draft class in 2017 and spent his first four NFL seasons with the team.
The #49ers are talking with free-agent slot receiver/return man
Draft Watch: Western Kentucky WR Malachi Corley visiting 49ers on Wednesday
By David Bonilla
Apr 16
The San Francisco 49ers are hosting several draft prospects this week as the deadline for pre-draft visits draws near. According to Aaron Wilson of KPRC2, the team will host former Western Kentucky wide receiver Malachi Corley on Wednesday.
Corley is expected to be a Day 2 pick. San Francisco owns two selections on Day 2—the No. 63 overall pick in the second round and the No. 94 overall pick in the third round. Currently, the receiver is visiting with the Seattle Seahawks.
Western Kentucky @WKUFootball receiver Malachi Worley
Rapoport: 49ers send clear message to teams inquiring about Brandon Aiyuk
By David Bonilla
Apr 16
Ian Rapoport didn't offer much of an update on the ongoing contract negotiations between the San Francisco 49ers and their standout wide receiver, Brandon Aiyuk. However, the NFL insider emphasized one thing: The team is not entertaining trade discussions at this juncture.
Reacting to Aiyuk's decision to unfollow the 49ers on Instagram, Rapoport couldn't help but chuckle at the latest development. This practice has become commonplace among players who are unhappy with their contract situations. Wide receiver Deebo Samuel similarly took this action in 2022 before requesting to be traded just before the draft.
Things have yet to escalate that far with Aiyuk, but Rapoport sees his
7-round mock draft from The Athletic sees 49ers fortifying defense early
By David Bonilla
Apr 17
Analyst Dane Brugler recently revealed his seven-round mock draft for The Athletic, forecasting all 257 selections in the upcoming 2024 NFL Draft, set to kick off next week.
"Piecing together a mock like this is time consuming, but I enjoy the exercise, because it allows me to focus on each team's needs, organizational trends and prospect-team pairings that make sense based on '30' visits, league buzz and overall interest," Brugler wrote.
Most expect the 49ers to address the trenches early in the draft, and Brugler has the team doing that. It's just not on the offensive side of the football. In fact, Brugler doesn't have San Francisco
