The 49ers’ final practice before their journey to the desert was a far more encouraging one for the defense. SF’s receivers failed to secure catches six times, and quarterbacks were sacked five times.
It was a fairly abbreviated practice on a get-away day, following a hot one on Monday.
Brock Purdy
Purdy went 7-of-13 on the day, suffering one drop, taking four sacks, and nearly throwing an interception.
His first pass was a completion over the middle to Ross Dwelley (with George Kittle not participating in 11-on-11s, along with Drake Jackson) in which Arik Armstead mauled Spencer Burford and forced the ball out quickly.
He found Deebo Samuel short on his next series, then connected with Christian McCaffrey — who created a huge amount of space on an out cut against Dre Greenlaw — and Brandon Aiyuk, on a crosser towards the left sideline. His first incompletion came to Charlie Woerner, against Fred Warner. The latter was locked in with Woerner step for step and broke up the pass up the seam, letting Purdy hear it afterwards.
The only drop Purdy was dealt was by rookie tight end Cam Latu, who had two of them in the span of three-straight targets. Purdy’s ball was towards the wrong shoulder, but it should have been an easy catch with no one closing quickly on Latu.
He took a would-be sack from Javon Hargrave on his next play. Hargrave made easy work of Jake Brendel, and was an absolute menace on the day. On the very next series, he had another sack of Purdy. Purdy threw incomplete the play before towards Samuel on what would’ve been a QB hit for a blindside blitzing Isaiah Oliver.
The next series featured situations, and Purdy got off to a bad start, throwing a poor ball toward McCaffrey, who would’ve had his head taken off in a game situation by an on-rushing linebacker. The play after was a sack for Warner, who made sure everyone on the field knew it would’ve been a strip sack in a real game.
Purdy’s penultimate series featured a screen to Samuel, then a near interception for Charvarius Ward against Aiyuk, who beat Aiyuk to the inside, essentially running the route for Aiyuk. He was fantastic on the day should’ve had the pick.
Purdy’s day finished with a seven-play series that began with an incompletion in the direction of Samuel, a sack from Kerry Hyder Jr. (then a completion to McCaffrey), followed by a bobbled Aiyuk catch over the middle, a quick out to Jauan Jennings, and a couple Jordan Mason runs.
Trey Lance
Lance suffered the most drop-related misfortune on Tuesday, going 4-of-8, but dealt three drops.
His first pass was a drop from Aiyuk, but a better ball might have turned it into a completion. Aiyuk ran a deep, out-breaking route and Lance’s ball was a bit flat and low, leaving Aiyuk to have to lunge for the ball. It should have been caught, but was not the best ball.
His next attempt was the first of Latu’s drops. It required a slight jump from the uncovered tight end — again, a better ball might have made a completion — but not anything superhuman. It hit Latu square in the hands and he dropped it. He recovered a couple plays later with a catch on a short in-breaking route, before dropping the next target from Purdy.
After practice, the tight end criticized himself, saying he’s thinking too much about the details of each play.
“The game is slowing down, just obviously thinking way too much every play,” Latu said. “I gotta just slow it down a little more for me, just understand what I got to do on every play, and just do it at a high speed. I think I’m too slow right now, and I gotta get faster with this game.”
On Lance’s next series, he was pressured and threw off the helmet of a defensive linemen while trying to get rid of the ball. He came back with what should have been a routine catch-and-run opportunity on a well-timed slant, but Chris Conley dropped it inexcusably. Lance got one completion in that series with a well-thrown ball to the left sideline, snagged well by Isaiah Winstead.
His day concluded with a couple of efficient completions on a short in to Jennings and Conley.
Sam Darnold
Darnold also faced some drops, and had an interception after a sack. He went 3-of-6 with a sack and two drops.
His first attempt was a sure sack, then a “f**k it” throw deep down the left sideline to Ray-Ray McCloud. McCloud was well covered, and Ji’Ayir Brown ranged over for an athletic interception met with oohs and aahs from the defensive sideline.
Darnold responded on his next series with a completion to his left to Jennings, then a completion to his right to Brayden Willis, that might have been negated by a possible Kevin Givens sack opportunity.
On his next series, he was let down on back-to-back plays by Willie Snead IV and Ronnie Bell, who both dropped routine, short catches on in-breaking routes. Darnold at least ended the series with a completion to Snead to make up for the previous error.
Darnold’s last series featured a prayer of a go ball to McCloud that went out of bounds, followed by a first-down completion to Snead. He ended practice with an outrageous sidearm throw to his left to Snead with Marlon Davidson in his face. Warner was audibly impressed with the throw and completion.
Brandon Allen
Allen, as usual, had limited reps. He took just five snaps. His first was an incompletion on a Tre Swilling pass breakup that Winstead perhaps should have come down with. After a chunk run for Jeremy McNichols up the middle, and another for him to the right, Allen took two more snaps.
The first of his final series was a Ty Davis-Price run that saw Davis-Price absolutely flattened on a crunching, duo hit from Marcelino McCrary-Ball and George Odum. After that, Allen, got his only completion of the day, a solid ball over the middle to Samuel.