Offensive Coordinator Klay Kubiak Press Conference

Offensive Coordinator Klay Kubiak

Press Conference – November 13, 2025

San Francisco 49ers

How is QB Brock Purdy feeling and looking?

“Good. You know, he has done more this week than he’s been doing and he’s had a couple good days and we have to see how these next 48 hours go, but he’s had one of his better weeks in terms of coming back from the injury and we’re hoping for the best.”

Would you call his practices “aggressive”?

“[Laughs] I don’t know what that means. He’s had good practices. He just looks more confident and that’s been the goal. So, if we can kind of get through these few days with him progressing, we hope it stays in that direction.”

How does his arm strength and lower body mechanics look compared to the way it looked this summer?

“I wouldn’t say I noticed a difference. I mean, I think that’s the goal is that it needs to look the same. He needs to be just as confident as he was in training camp, as he was in Week One. And I feel like if we saw something that concerned us, we wouldn’t be going this direction. So, I would say it looks the same to me.”

Head coach Kyle Shanahan said yesterday that he could kind of feel that Brock was back up to normal speed. Did you also get that same sense that you could feel that he was just the way the ball was coming out?

“Yeah, I think Brock looks good. I mean, I agree with that. I think he’s had some good practices and again, that’s been our goal. We don’t want to put him back on the field unless we feel confident that he can be his normal self.”

Did the rain complicate things today?

“Initially, it was bad. It was coming down, but you know, our guys didn’t really care and it ended up kind of stopping there in the middle of practice, so we had a good day.”

What about WR Ricky Pearsall? What have you seen from him this week?

“Yeah, he looks good. He’s been getting limited reps just kind of easing him back in, but he’s looked good. I think Ricky, his mind is he wants to play, but we have to get through this week, kind of like Brock, and just get through it healthy and just get him back into it. But we’re happy with where he is at.”

Is he a full go or would you say he might be on a snap count this week?

“We’ll see, I think it’s too early to tell from that regard. I think he’s a guy when he is on the field, who’s going to want to stay in there if he can go, but we have to be careful with him. We have to be smart and we’ll see how it goes.”

Kyle was saying that RB Brian Robinson Jr. has had his best game four weeks in a row. What have you seen from him in terms of just more comfort level with the offense or the fact that maybe he got the ball three or four times in a row and gained some rhythm? What’s gone into that?

“I think both of those things. I think the more he is out there, the longer he is here, the more comfortable he gets with our scheme and kind of how we see things in the run game. He’s been able to get into a rhythm, in my opinion. Look at the New York game and last game where he’s able to kind of stay out there for a drive and just get multiple runs in a row and just kind of impose his will on people. And then I think, when you look at his confidence, the things he’s done for us in the kicking game, he’s contributed to our team in meaningful ways and his confidence has grown and we just hope it stays in that direction. He’s doing a good job.”

Brock Purdy looked ready before Week Four, but ultimately wasn’t. When you’re watching him on the practice field this week and you think he looks ready, is that in the back of your mind?

“It’s a fair question, but no, not really. I think you learn from those instances. You kind of learn more about Brock, he learns more about himself and how his body reacts to things. I think any player’s going to want to go, any player’s going to want to push through things, but then you learn through the experiences, okay, what can I really push through? What maybe was wrong then that that needs to feel better this time around? So, I think it’s just a learning experience for everyone.”

What did Seattle do in the run game last week to Arizona and is there a way you guys can replicate what they did?

“Yeah, I mean, they did a heck of a job. I think they had, I don’t remember how many carries it was, but they got out to a big lead in that game and really early, I think it was like 35-0 in the second quarter. So, they were able to commit to the run game, really the whole second half of the game. They blocked them well, they had a good scheme. Their backs do a good job breaking tackles. I mean, they put together a nice game plan. So yeah, there’s things we look at in that game that we can hopefully try to take advantage of, but we have to do what we do. We have to execute, we have to be better than we were last week and hopefully have some good run game.”

RB Christian McCaffrey’s ability to be flexed or put in motion or whatever, basically whatever you want to do with him. Why is it difficult to get him and Robinson on the field at the same time?

“We’ve done it a little bit here and there but you know, I mean, we could. It’s definitely something that we talk about and that we do have in. It’s not like something we’re opposed to at all. But I think the way games have gone, we just haven’t gone that direction. But it’s definitely something we do talk about and we have in from week to week.”

I think Kyle referred to it a little bit too, but the use of a fullback, the use of extra tight ends, all that stuff kind of contributes too.

“Yeah, and it depends on how teams are playing you, like some teams might treat that just as Christian as another receiver and is that something you want? Is that how you want the defense to look at you? Just depends week to week, you know. But when we put a fullback out there, we really kind of feel like we know what we’re going to get from the defense. So, some of that’s part of it. It’s just not something we do a lot, but if we started doing it more, you’d probably get a feel for how teams want to play you. But you know, it’s just kind of something we week to week we look at.”

Is that a big factor in choosing personnel groupings – your ability to anticipate the coverage you’re going to get when you use it?

“It’s part of it. I think defenses get better and better all the time about not letting you get a beat on that. I think that’s what most good defenses do now in this League is you don’t know what they’re going to be in. But you try to, especially as games go on, how are they playing us in these personnel groups? Are we getting a feel for what they’re doing? You try to anticipate as best you can. I mean, that’s how you game plan people. But like I said, it’s the NFL and defensive coordinators are really good at saying, ‘Hey, we’ve done this before, we’re going to change it up. We’re not going to let them get a beat on us.’ So, it’s part of the challenge every week.”

Does Arizona’s defense look any different to you now that they’ve added DE Walter Nolen III up front?

“No. I mean, not schematically. They look better. I mean, he’s a really dynamic interior player. But they look like the defense they’ve been all year, which in my opinion is a very good defense. You know, they’ve had some really tough losses in terms of one possession games that they’ve been in throughout the year. It’s a really good team and they’re going to play hard. They’re physical and it’s just going to be a challenge. And he only adds to that because he’s a really talented player.”

When you watched the film from last week, what’d you see from the offensive line? Have you seen some growth there?

“Yeah, I mean I thought in protection we did a good job. We dropped back a lot and I don’t know if we had any sacks, maybe one sack. So, we thought we held up pretty good in protection. I thought there were instances in the game where we were running the ball well, but just the way the game went, we weren’t able to kind of commit to the run for four quarters. I thought the guys played well. There’s things we have to clean up, like always, but I think that group is growing and cohering and hopefully we get some consistency with the same guys out there week to week.”

If the QB Mac Jones era is over with the 49ers, how gratifying was it to watch him sort of put his career back together?

“I don’t look at it that way at all. I mean, Mac’s a member of our team. Right now, he’s our backup. Mac’s going to be ready when his number’s called again. How gratifying was it that he played well? Very, because he deserved it and he earned it. And he had a great offseason. He’s a great teammate and when he gets his opp again, he’s going to be ready. So that’s how I look at it.”