Jones has made the decision easy for Shanahan thanks to his performance, which has often required courage and toughness to play through his own physical ailments. His biggest accomplishment came in Week 5 when he powered the 49ers to a victory over the Rams Thursday night footballbattling through an obviously nagging knee injury to lead San Francisco to a road victory. Throughout, Jones has been available to guide the 49ers, swinging between the roles of playmaker and thriving passer on a week-by-game basis.
The effort has been commendable, but it won’t be enough to unseat Purdy. However, it will be up to Purdy to ensure that his challenging road back to the field does not limit him when he returns.
“No. We haven’t talked about it,” Shanahan said when asked if he had talked to Purdy about avoiding pressure when he returns. “Things we’ve talked about is just making sure when you come back you’re 100 percent, so you don’t have to worry about anything like that. If Brock is 100 percent and confident like that, I don’t think he has anything to worry about in a game.”
Purdy’s absence has seemed unusually long, but a toe injury can limit much of what a quarterback can accomplish. Shanahan revealed that he could see Purdy being limited by the toe injury all the way back in Week 4 and acknowledged that Purdy will need time to properly recover before taking the reins of the offense again.
Right now, it sounds like Purdy is nearing that milestone before San Francisco’s Week 11 game against Arizona. He will likely be happy to return to a team that, despite playing without him, is still in playoff contention.