49ers roster: 5 players who desperately need a great preseason

No. 3: 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy

Understandably, the bulk of focus during Niners training camp has fallen on quarterback Trey Lance, and only minimal amounts of attention have gone towards the other two signal-callers practicing, Nate Sudfeld and Brock Purdy.

With Lance fully entrenched as the starter, and Sudfeld not going anywhere because of his fully guaranteed $2 million salary for 2022, Purdy already had long odds at becoming a useful member of the 53-man roster after San Francisco made him the final pick of this year’s NFL Draft.

Likely ticketed for the practice squad anyway, Purdy’s job in camp would have been to showcase why the 49ers couldn’t afford to cut him and subject him to waivers where he could get claimed by another team, mandating a roster spot as a result.

And while both Purdy and Sudfeld had plenty of camp struggles, at least the veteran backup has started to separate himself a bit.

For the most part, Purdy has remained at the level most would expect from a seventh-round quarterback taken with a draft-pick flier.

Like Leon O’Neal and Nick Zakelj, the Niners will likely feature Purdy aplenty during the preseason, and he’ll want to use those games to turn the page on what’s been a lackluster offseason thus far.