When Brock Purdy takes the field with his San Francisco 49ers teammates on Saturday against the Green Bay Packers, it will mark 20 days since his last in-game action. That is a long time to be sidelined. However, with the 49ers securing the NFC's top seed and home-field advantage in the playoffs, head coach Kyle Shanahan is confident in his decision to rest the second-year quarterback.
Is there a concern that Purdy might be rusty against the Packers? Not within the organization. Despite owning a first-round postseason bye, the 49ers have ensured their 24-year-old quarterback stays active during this break. Shanahan isn't overly worried about the extended time off, emphasizing that Purdy has been working hard.
"It's not in my mind really much at all because he hasn't been on a bye week," Shanahan assured reporters on Tuesday. "We pushed the heck out of Brock—meetings, practice. I mean, we knew Sam [Darnold] was playing that whole game [against the Rams], and Brock was still splitting reps with him [in practice].
"So Brock got a good week in. We just didn't want to put him out there in the first half of that game. So he did miss the first half versus the Rams, but he got that whole week in, and he came back, he's been here, he's worked on his days off.
"We got two bigger practices last week than we do in a normal week. And Brock went out with the guys on Monday, did a bunch of stuff with them, and now we're going to get two practices in again."
Unlike the regular-season bye week, it seems Purdy has remained active and engaged. The 49ers have complete confidence that he will be well-prepared to face the Packers' defense.
Shanahan added, "So in terms of time off, he did have two quarters off (against the Rams) to what we could have done with him, but we definitely think that was worth it, and I don't worry about that affecting Brock at all for Saturday."