The San Francisco 49ers have played it safe with quarterback Brock Purdy as he tries to recover from his toe injury, but head coach Kyle Shanahan's latest comments on his franchise quarterback's status only make things more confusing.
Appearing on KNBR this week, Shanahan said that he was "pretty confident" that Purdy will come back at some point this year.
The "pretty" qualification shows that things are still very much in the air this season, and Shanahan is hedging a little bit.
Shanahan admitted recently that Purdy's toe issue will likely not go away completely this season. This seemed evident based on the nature of turf-toe injuries and the fact he re-injured his toe in Week 4 against the Jacksonville Jaguars and has not played in a game since.
This toe injury seems like something that will improve as long as he rests, but it is going to be a lingering thing for the rest of this year, and there is going to be an inevitable risk that he injures himself again.
General manager John Lynch has floated the idea that Purdy could suit up and serve as the backup to Mac Jones as he continues to heal, but that just seems like a weird arrangement that will only feed into a QB controversy narrative that the Niners surely want to avoid.
At this point, it seems like it is going to take a bad game from Jones to get Purdy back as the starting quarterback. Jones has been playing very solid this season and is clearly very comfortable in Shanahan's offense. The 49ers are not going to rush Purdy back again and expose him to what could be a long-term injury if they feel like Jones still probably gives them the best chance to win.
Maybe that changes if Jones gets hurt or he delivers a bad game. At that point, Purdy at less than full strength would almost certainly be an upgrade over Adrian Martinez, whose NFL experience amounts to one kneel down that he got at the end of last Sunday's game against the New York Giants.
We will see how this whole Purdy saga plays out, but it has been anything but clear in recent weeks and will probably remain unclear so long as Jones continues to play well and lead the 49ers to victory week after week.