San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan and quarterback Brock Purdy spoke with reporters after Thursday's joint practice with the Las Vegas Raiders, as the team prepares for its preseason game at Allegiant Stadium. Here's everything they said.
Transcript provided by the San Francisco 49ers Communications staff.
Any new injuries? DL Nick Bosa?
"With Bosa, neck soreness. Hopefully he'll be back next week."
What about S Jason Pinnock?
"You know him and [CB] Tre Brown both have heel situations. They both almost went today but didn't go. So, hopefully they can Saturday."
What happened to OL Ben Bartch?
"I'll help you guys out [laugh]. All right, Bosa, hopefully next week we got Tre Brown, Pinnock, heel. I'm not going to say the old ones that you guys already know. Bartch got his elbow. He'll be out this week. [CB] Upton Stout, you guys knew that, still his calf. [WR] Jordan Watkins, you guys got the high ankle sprain. [DL] Robert Beal [Jr.], abductor."
During practice, DL C.J. West went down.
"C.J. West hyperextended his knee. We think it's going to be all right, but it looks like what happened to [DL] Mykel [Williams] last week, but his ACL and everything checked out so far, so hopefully we'll be lucky."
From what you saw, how did practice go?
"I was happy with the guys. I'm excited to see the film. You know, it was a huge challenge today, just having 20 guys out and how many ever we have on PUP and stuff. So, it was a challenge to get through that. I thought we needed it, and I was proud of the guys. A number of positions had to step up, especially with DB, d-line, wide out. But I thought we competed hard out there. I thought we did a good job and excited to have the tape for these guys."
Did you notice improvements from a week ago or does that register right away?
"Not really. I mean it is a different team we're going against, different situation. We're in a different spot than we were last week. I try my hardest not to measure ourselves up to other people in these, I just like different schemes and different players to go against. It's more about us continuing to get our guys the best they can be, and I think it helps to go against some different techniques and style to do that. So that's why I like this.
Did QB Brock Purdy get enough work today to where you won't play him on Saturday or will he go for a series or two?
"I'd like Brock to play, we'll see how it goes. I haven't decided anything for sure yet. We'll watch this tape, I planned on getting these starters going. There might be a couple guys I rest, but there's not a lot of, especially on the defense, healthy starters as it is. But I'll figure that out here in the next 24 hours. But planning on some starters to play."
When you say like going up against different guys, like OL Colton McKivitz going up Las Vegas Raiders DE Maxx Crosby a lot, could you see anything?
"In the team periods, I mean you can feel Maxx every play, but I don't really sit and isolate there, but you can feel him every play. I know he got a couple of them, but I think Colton got a couple too. It's fun to watch the one-on-ones when we do that stuff. I don't know how many reps we got of it today down numbers, but that's usually my favorite thing when it comes to those types of things or the one-on-ones because that's really when you get a good just isolate on those guys. But I don't know, I wasn't over there for that."
You had expressed hope, obviously, that OL Andre Dillard could maybe be the answer at swing tackle. Will you have to look outside at this point without him?
"Oh yeah. I mean we're always looking outside, but if there were a lot of guys outside, they wouldn't be outside. They would be somewhere, so I was excited to get [OL Andre] Dillard in the mix to compete with that. But we still got [OL Spencer] Spence [Burford] going. We still got [OL Austen] Pleasants going, so we've got guys competing for that spot. Would've been nice to have him but he got a rough injury and is not going to be available for a little bit."
So, it was tied to what he was dealing with before?
"Yeah. Same thing as before."
What is OL Connor Colby showing you?
"I think he's getting better each week. You know, when you get these guys in at first you try not to judge them too hard because it takes a while. But the cool thing about o-lineman, is they just gradually get better each day, they kind of learn what we're asking. It's always different techniques. You never have a guy come out college who is going have to run as much as we ask him to as o-line. So, that always takes a number of days, sometimes a number of years. But I think he's improved a lot here in these last couple weeks. Saw he got a high PFF grade, so I know you guys are on top of him. But I don't think it was too off."
He's not a secret anymore.
"No he's not a secret [laughs]."
When we talked to offensive line coach Chris Foerster about him a couple weeks ago, he said that he was pleasantly surprised by where he was at in pass protection relative to, like Iowa didn't pass as much, right?
"Yeah, I would agree with that. You don't get to see a lot of that on Iowa tape and just his size and stuff. He has an advantage with his size being in front of people, and his feet and stuff have been able to do it too. So, he's catching up in the run game, but he's had more of an advantage in the pass game so far."
I know you joke but does the PFF grade match up to the 49ers grade?
"I don't know. I don't really know their grade. I just know they tell me when they have a high grade. So, I know who you guys are going to ask about [laugh]."
So, I'm saying did he grade out well?
"Yeah, I thought he played well. Yeah, he did. He did well, so did [OL] Drew Moss. They're getting more accurate."
It seemed like the Raiders were doing their share of antagonizing and you guys were sort of in control and sustaining that with the laundry list of injuries. Was there a message to hey, let's try to keep things in control with these joint practices?
"Yeah, there's a huge message. We had an idea where we would walk into, but it's the same as the game. Like I have no problem with people fighting. I have a problem with you hurting your football team and losing football games. We don't like people to fight on game day because one, it's a 15-yard penalty. We like explosives, they're hard to get by. We don't like to just give them people, and you get ejected. It's a lot harder to play with 45 and 46. Today I looked at it even stronger. I mean we are out here missing 20 guys. We have some positions that don't really have enough to go. I looked at it as if, if you get punched and you throw a punch back and told the guys, it shows how mentally weak you are. So, all you're going to do is leave five guys left to do the whole practice just because you couldn't handle getting a head in your face mask, letting that hurt someone's hand. So, I thought it was important to truly show how tough you are by no one throwing a punch, and what I saw the guys handled that because we were able to keep them all out there."
T Trent Williams didn't practice in the two joint practices. Is that because he doesn't need to compete in joint practices, or is it anything to do with getting OL Spencer Burford as much work as possible?
"No, it's more about Trent. Starting to have new plus 36-year-old rules for certain people. Yeah, his plus 36 might be a little different than our punter and long snappers but you know, Trent's playing at a very high level, Trent's in as good as shape. I think he's a lot further along right now than he was last year. But we love where Trent's at. You only have so many bull rushes, so many everything you have in you once you get to a certain age, and when you put a guy out there like Trent, I mean everyone wants to measure themselves up against him. So, I've been in joint practices with Trent, and it's a little different for him just going against people. So would've taken him out of that and be a little bit smarter with him."
Do you think RB Christian McCaffrey and TE George Kittle are ready for the regular season?
"Yeah, I do. You always want to keep working and stuff, but it's such a fine line. Like those guys, they're ready physically when it starts, but they know they got to get through camp and stuff so their bodies can take it throughout the whole year. It's tough with the way those guys play on Sunday, they can always throughout the year get a lot of work on Wednesday and Thursday. So, if you don't get that work now, sometimes you never can catch it back up. The problem is stretching it all out. That's why we got to be smart with those guys. That's why those guys do get some vet days. It's kind of naturally happened with these scrimmages because we've had two on one off, then we have to travel, we have tomorrow off, and then we'll see how the game goes. I haven't decided with all those guys yet, but there's not a lot of time in the game either."
With Christian coming off last year's injuries, did you check in on him during camp or you can just tell by how he's practicing?
"Yeah, I mean I'm around Christian a lot, so I talk to him a lot. Talk to the trainers a lot, and Christian's very neurotic about his body, so you know he's on top of all that stuff. But I mean last year was the first training camp he missed with us. Missing training camp isn't always the best way to; it's definitely not the best way to keep you healthy. But getting hurt in training camp also is a problem too. So that's kind of the miserable decisions I have every single day."
Christian seems to be moving really well to the naked eye. Is the GPS tracker saying that it's the same?
"Yeah, I think he had like 25 yesterday or something like that. Trying to make Christian happy. He's doing awesome. He's as fast as he's been, as quick, as strong. He's Christian McCaffrey."
George and Brock had really nice chemistry last year, and they spent a lot of off-time together. Do you see it even raise their chemistry together?
"Yeah, I've noticed Brock had a couple more Bud Lights lately. I think that's from Kittle. I'm just joking. Brock's not like that, but I think hanging out with Kittle's awesome, they got a lot more work in. But it's not necessarily stuff you see on the field, it's just cool to see guys get closer and just become more comfortable with each other. I mean we've been here now I think three years, four years together and you know, spend a lot of time with people like that in your whole life. So hopefully, it'll be four more."
You mentioned before the risk/reward of deciding which starters play. How do you balance that given how many injuries went down on the depth that you have and how does that change the competition?
"Well, the fact that so many guys are hurt, it kind of takes the decision process out for me. I think there are three healthy starters on defense right now, so I have to decide on those three guys. But it does put a lot more pressure on the threes. The twos become the ones, the threes become the twos, and we don't really have threes right now. I look at it all and how much time you're getting in the next few weeks, and I'd like to get a lot of work for as many guys as I can on Saturday. So, we're going to try to treat the following week like a normal week where we take a Monday and Tuesday off, try to have a normal Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday schedule. Which will be one off because it's a Saturday game, but I'm trying to do as best as we can. With guys who miss all of Saturday who don't work on Friday, then the whole team has Sunday and Monday off. Now all a sudden you've had a guy rest for too many days, and it becomes unsafe to bring him back. So, we got to figure out how to balance it out."
The defensive line, you have many guys that are probably going to make the roster that aren't available right now. It's not just the defensive line, but are you ever oh, here we go again. Do you ever get those feelings?
"Yeah, because I mean that's what we all get. That's why we all don't like training camp. We love football, we love practicing, but you know how valuable these players are to winning games. I think we had six d-linemen out there today. Two that I think we signed yesterday, two that we signed the week before, and two guys that I don't really know. So, it's a little bit different. It gives guys other opportunities, we can see more people. But yeah, this isn't my first time going through it, so it's kind of life of the coach. I accept it a little bit more but, it's something we're thinking about a lot. It's a big deal, and hopefully we can fix it."
QB Brock Purdy
How did these joint practices go compared to a week ago against the Broncos?
"I thought it was solid. I thought our offense came out ready to roll and compete and so I thought it was overall pretty good. I think last week, obviously the first half of practice was a little slow, but I thought we finished it good. I thought today was pretty good from beginning to end."
What were your thoughts on the Raiders defense?
"I think they're solid. Obviously with [Las Vegas Raiders head coach] coach [Pete] Carroll and their scheme that he's done in Seattle, like bringing it over here and from back when they were running it with Legion of Boom, so you could see them doing that now, which is pretty cool. And I think they're going to continue to get better with it. And obviously when you've got [Las Vegas Raiders DE] Maxx Crosby and those guys rushing the pocket, they had a couple good reps today of getting in there, so disruptive, but still pretty good scheme-wise overall. So, it was good going up against them."
How would you describe where RB Christian McCaffrey is physically and mentally?
"Yeah, I mean obviously physically he looks great, getting in and out of cuts, running hard. Back to the McCaffrey that we all know. And then mentally he's just, he's on one, like he's ready to get after it with the season and obviously from beginning to end, like play a whole season and go hard. And that's who he is, he keeps telling all of us in the locker room, he's like, 'dude, I can't wait. I can't wait.' And so, for me as a quarterback, I'm like, 'dude, I love hearing that' and obviously let's just keep taking him one day at a time, but he's ready to roll."
You see that on a joint practice more than anything because he's going against somebody he knows wants to hit him?
"100-percent. Like it's obviously not our team on the other side of the ball. So, when he gets to go up and meet one of their linebackers in the A Gap or Maxx Crosby coming around, like I know that gets him going and he really likes that and competing. So, for me to be able to watch that was pretty cool."
OL Colton McKivitz has pretty much told the world he's going to be a Pro Bowl player this year. He wants to put that on himself. Do you see just the maturation or the improvements maybe mentally and physically in his game over time?
"Yeah, he's done a great job this whole offseason, and I think today was a really good test going against Maxx and some of those guys on the edge. And he's done a tremendous job. And I think overall just the maturity of how he carries himself, what he knows and expects the season is going to bring and what his job has to be. He knows it really well. I feel like the last couple years after [Denver Broncos OL Mike] McGlinchey left, he came into the role and was like, all right, how are you going to do with your role? But now we know what we're going to get from him and what the standard is at right tackle and he's going to do a tremendous job. So, I'm excited for him."
I couldn't see it perfectly, so I don't know if it's a big deal or not. It looks like Raiders DE Tyree Wilson rolled int you at the end of practice. Was that a big deal or not? Do moments like that scare you?
"Yeah, I mean obviously at practice it's like how can I stay away from little things like that that you look back on and be like, what the heck? But at the end of the day for me, when I take the snap, it's 11-on-11 football, especially an environment like today, we're competing against another team. That's the game. There's going to be guys getting thrown down, rolled up into our ankles or whatever. How can I still get the throw off? How can I extend? It's part of the game. He came up to me and apologized after and I was like, dude, thanks for competing. Like, you're making this better. So, it is what it is and obviously you just don't want anything dumb to happen."
Several years back, I'm not sure if it was your first time in Vegas, but you were in a seven-on-seven tournament. A lot of people in that tournament were talking about the undefeated team, and you led your team to the title and then from there you were big in Arizona and it just grew and grew. And I've often wondered if you've ever thought back to those times when everyone else's name was getting thrown out there, but you overcame adversity and then onto Iowa State and so on. Do you ever think back to that as motivation?
"I mean, yeah, there's like stories and stuff, we'll laugh and whenever the guys are together and we get bragging about high school days or whatever, like, oh yeah dude, well, there was this one time in seven-on-seven I had my high school team and we had no one really big and we went up against the Bishop Gorman guys, so they had like DTR [Philadelphia Eagles QB Dorian Thompson-Robinson] and [Houston Texans TE] Brevin Jordan and a bunch of other guys going Division 1 and this little like Perry High school team came in and we upset them. So yeah, I mean, it's all part of the story and it's fun, but I feel like that's sort of just been like the story of my life and sort of where I've come from of being the underdog and then you look back on those moments when no one believed in you, you believed in yourself and you go get it done."
It's not an easy transition for OL Spencer Burford after playing guard. Obviously he did that in college. How is he doing? How is his development out there?
"I think it's been obviously a new challenge for him, playing guard and then now the coach is asking him to go play left tackle behind [T] Trent [Williams]. And it's a big responsibility for sure, the blind side of the quarterback and everything. But, he's taking it and competing his butt off right now, and I think he's learning and growing, asking Trent. You can see like he really wants this opportunity and to take advantage of the opportunity. So, I'm excited to see what he does the rest of camp. He's got a bunch of good opportunities coming up with these preseason games and we're going to go from there. But Spencer's a kind of guy that I've got his back. He's been here since I got here and he works his butt off, so obviously I want nothing but the best for him. But in the next in couple weeks it's going to be really excited to watch him."
WR Jauan Jennings is not practicing, but do you have opportunities daily to get with him and just talk through stuff and just kind of stay sharp mentally with him?
"Yeah, he's around and so I always see J.J. in the locker room and we'll talk about practice and whatnot and just what he's seeing. Same thing with [WR Brandon] Aiyuk. Aiyuk, I'm always asking him, 'Hey bro, what did you see you on this route or this rep?' So, they've done nothing but given me really good feedback. They care, obviously, and they're continuing to grow mentally and stay on top of their game. Obviously, I can't touch on what they're going through or whatever off the field. So obviously, I want them out there but those are my guys."
And when you say that, what do you see on this rep, you're talking about other guys running the route?
"Correct. Other receivers running certain routes against man or zone or whatever. I'll literally just go after practice and ask him like, 'Hey bro, did you see that rep?' And they're like, 'Yeah, this needs to be done, I would've, whatever. And so, they do a good job of it."
How does it benefit you to sharpen your connection with TE George Kittle? You guys are having a pretty good camp together.
"Yeah, I think just overall, Kittle, he and I, we talk about almost every rep that we have, same with Christian and stuff. But where we could both get better, what to expect with that certain look. And obviously going back to this offseason, we trained together every single day and I think that really has paid off just with timing and where he needs to be and us both trusting each other. But it is a blessing because he absolutely loves football. And when you get a guy that loves football and wants to talk about it 24/7, just like a quarterback does, there's nothing better. So, that's what he does. Obviously you guys see it out there."
With WR Ricky Pearsall being back, has your chemistry been building again with him?
"Yeah, it's been awesome. I think same thing, Ricky absolutely loves football. He's done a great job of competing and pushing through practices when he's tired and getting the reps and building up the stamina, like those are all things that he's working through, which is awesome. And I think he's done a great job. But overall, I love Ricky, his work ethic, his attitude and he's our starting receiver. So, we're going to definitely feed him the ball and I can't wait to do it."
What have been your impressions of OL Connor Colby so far?
"He's done a great job coming in, obviously last week in the preseason game he balled out, did a great job. And this week he's gotten some opportunities, working up the depth chart. He's done a tremendous job. So overall, as a rookie lineman, it's never perfect. It's never easy. You got to go through some hiccups and whatnot, but I think he's handled all it really graciously. He's a kid that puts his head down, goes to work, you don't hear much from him, but when he steps out on the field you see it. So, it's been pretty cool."
Those interactions you mentioned with Aiyuk and Jennings, how does that help your confidence level that when they get back you'll be able to pick up where you guys left off? Is there going to be some adjustment period you think as you guys kind of work back into that rhythm?
"I think overall, if you're talking ball, you're talking scheme, you're talking, 'Hey, on this route, what's your mindset' or whatever and talking through things, that's always a blessing. That's a huge deal. But when you get on the field physically, getting out there, moving again with your body, trying to get off a guy in man coverage, those are all things that you can talk about. But once you go out there, you've just got to experience it and work it through together. And so, I think they have so much experience though that when they do get on the field, that they'll pick up right where they left off. Maybe it might take them a day or two or a week, who knows? But those are veteran guys and they know what to expect. So anyways, when they get out there, hopefully we just pick up where we left off."
You talked about Kittle and you both like to talk about football 24/7. Do you find it hard when you guys are together maybe socially not to do that? Is it important to have those moments that you're talking about something else?
"Yeah, I think Kittle does a great job of mixing it up. He loves football, he loves staying healthy in his career and making the most of every opportunity that he has every year. And I think everyone sees that on a national level. But, he does a great job of like joking around, making sure that we're all going to dinners, hanging out and doing life outside of football and that kind of stuff matters, I think tremendously. It just builds nothing but trust and we take that out on the field with each other. So, he does a good job with that, being a veteran. And he's done that since day one for me as a rookie and he continues to do that with all the young guys still. So, shoutout Kittle."
Were you surprised he got Trent to walk out at the Morgan Wallen concert?
"Yeah [laughter], a little bit, but I think it got everyone hyped. It was pretty cool seeing Trent and George both go out with Morgan Wallen. So, it was funny."
How's WR Jacob Cowing coming along since he been back as well?
"He's done a great job. Jacob, same thing, his mindset, he doesn't take anything for granted. He's out there going hard every rep and he's the kind of kid that he just wants an opportunity. You could tell last year when he got into games, he had little sparks and stuff and it was just about putting a whole season together as a rookie. I think now going into his second year healthy again and stuff, he's ready for it and he's got the chip on his shoulder. It's pretty cool seeing him and Ricky, they're both buddies and both of their mindset's very similar. They want to go out and win. They want to be a starting receiver in the NFL. I really do believe that they both have the skillset and traits to be that. Just got to put a whole season together and compete together. So, I'm excited for him."
You come out here, you're second straight week of one practice with another team. But here in Vegas, the crowd, music's blaring, it's the Raiders, new coach, new regime. Can you feed off that vibe? Can you feel a different atmosphere? It's not like you're here every year but in general, can you feed off that?
"Yeah, definitely. I think in training camp especially, you go out, you practice every day against your guys, your team, you know what you're going to get somewhat from our own scheme, but to be able to see a new scheme and a new environment, their fans sort of chirping and roaring and on big plays and whatnot, it's always fun. You get to compete obviously when you're in a stadium there's 70,000 plus or whatever, but to get out in a different environment, there's nothing better than it. We're all competitors. You ask Christian, you ask George, all these guys, we want to go show out in front of an opposing team and their fans and hopefully we can get them quiet. So, that's the goal."