QB Brock Purdy Press Conference

QB Brock Purdy

Press Conference – July 27, 2026

San Francisco 49ers

I know your communication with head coach Kyle Shanahan has been limited. What kind of interactions have you had with him? Have you still talked football with him these past few days?

“Well, I shot him a text after I heard the news and stuff, and we had texted back and forth on some things. I haven’t talked to him about football or anything. Saw him out on the field today actually the first time in person. And so, just hugged him, told him I loved him and hope he’s doing good and everything like that. So, obviously just want him to heal up and glad he’s okay and that’s first and foremost. So, I’m sure he’ll get right and we’ll get into football and everything. But, we just want him to be good.”

How have the first couple days been without having him in your ear during practice or in meetings and things like that?

“Yeah, I mean, he’s our guy. He’s the one leading all the team meetings and stuff and going over just situational football, what practice is going to look like. He’s our leader. So, it has been weird in terms of not having that, but I will say the assistant coaches have done a good job with stepping up. [Assistant head coach/offensive line] Coach Foerster and [defensive coordinator] Raheem [Morris] and [offensive coordinator] Klay Kubiak stepping up and filling those shoes when we all need it as players, for a coach to lead us and we’re able to run practices and go through installs and everything. So, that side of it is really good and positive. But, obviously he’s our head coach and we all want him here.”

Klay has been relaying the calls to you via walkie-talkie in a practices and that’s usually Kyle’s role during camp for the most part, right?

“Yeah. Kyle usually is on the walkie-talkie calling plays just like it would be in the game. So, hearing Klay and his voice throughout it is different, but Klay’s done such a good job. He called a couple preseason games and he’s installed so many, I mean, all of our installs the last couple years in front of the offense. Klay’s the man, so he does a great job with that.”

Because you’ve been in this offense now for going on five years, do you have such a control and command over it where it’s very second nature anyhow?

“I feel like how a practice rolls and install and everything, there’s just a process, and I’m still obviously learning and everything, but when I’m out in the field, I just understand how it goes and what needs to be done and getting guys in and out of the huddle and sort of pushing the tempo. I feel like that’s my job. They do a great job of calling the plays and stuff, but I think Klay’s done a great job with that too. When Kyle’s out, Klay goes in and he reminds me of those things too and what we’re trying to get out of practice and stuff. I just try to be me and Klay does a great job of being him too.”

How has it been, your connection with WR Mike Evans, and is there any sort of pinch me moment throwing out there with him?

“Yeah, it’s been great. We’ve slowly gotten on the same page over time from OTAs, summer we got together a little bit, and then the first couple days here it’s been really fun. Just what he brings to the table in terms of his size and speed and his catching radius, how smart he is with just football in general. For me, it’s been really fun. Still getting used to him and everything, but being out there and just giving him a chance and watching him come down with it has been awesome. I grew up watching him and stuff, and to now be able to throw to him and be on the same team and compete together, for sure, I pinch myself and I’m like, this is surreal for me. I’m going to try to give the guy all I’ve got and go out there and win games together.”

How much did the work in Nashville with WR De’Zhaun Stribling, WR Jordan Watkins, QB Mac Jones and TE George Kittle help you out in getting ready for this offseason?

“Yeah, I thought it was huge. We got a couple days of work in. Some guys came in and just emphasizing the simple things, the routes. Obviously getting on the same page when we’re trying to throw and getting the timing right and all that. But, those young guys obviously are going to have a huge role in this offense, especially at receiver. So really excited for them to have an opportunity to go out and compete. But, for Stribling, Watkins, the last couple days, they’ve both been making plays out here early. And so, for Mac and I, we’re both excited that we’ve got guys that are coming in ready to go right off the jump. We’ve just got to keep building on it. But, those are guys that we’re excited about, and we need them this year.”

Stribling’s been known for his football IQ. Have you recognized that as well?

“One-hundred percent. Just the way he runs routes, the detail of it, obviously we’re coaching him up on some stuff and whatnot, like little things, but more than anything he’s come in and he understands the route depths and the details and the alignments in our offense. Like all those things are really tough for rookies. And it’s not easy. It’s a whole other language, but he’s done a good job of studying, being on top of it and not even that, just catching a ball and then finishing and it’s like, all right, this dude has proven to all of us that he’s reliable and we can trust him. But, it is day two of camp. We’ve got to continue to find out. But, I’ve got a lot of trust in him right now.”

How excited are you to have this much speed at receiver? Seems like you guys have a lot more speed than you’ve had in the past.

“Yeah, it feels good. I feel like we’ve been able to bring in personnel where guys are, one, healthy, but then two, bringing in other guys that can help us open it up. The third level throws down the field are definitely a thing that we all dove into and looked at this offseason and how we can get those kind of plays and those explosives. But, in order to get those, you need the right guys to do it. And so, I think we have shown that we’ve got some speed now and obviously we’ve got to keep building on it and we’ll find out as we go. But, from what I’ve seen the first two days and being able to air it out and get guys out in those positions, man, I’m like, ‘Let’s go.’ It brings a whole other dynamic to our offense.”

Did you see that deep pass that was going almost right towards Kyle Shanahan?

“Yeah. I saw it after. I was like, ‘Dang, I almost hit Kyle.’ I was mad we couldn’t complete the throw. But, yeah heads up coach.”

When the text came in from Kyle, what was your instant fear and reaction? And then kind of as a leader and captain on this team, how do you weigh who you share that information with?

“Yeah, I got the text from Mandy Shanahan first and when I first read it, I was like, “’ don’t know, like, is this real?’ Kind of thing. And then it sort of sunk in. I called George and I was like, ‘Hey, is this’ And he goes, ‘Yeah, it sounds about right.’ So, it hurt really bad just reading that text. I’m like, first off, like, is he okay? What’s next? How is he? And all that. So I reached out to him and then he hit me back up. So, once he texted me back, I was like ‘All right, he’s good.’ It’s a scary moment because all you care about is life at that moment. Like, is he alive? Is he good? And all that. But after hearing Mandy and then what Kyle had said, I was like, ‘All right, Kyle’s good. This is going to be a little process and maybe, I don’t know what the road recovery looks like, but he’s going to be good.’ That’s all I cared about in that moment. So, I know he’s good, just seeing him and talking to him and stuff, and what he said to guys. I have a lot of faith that he’ll bounce back quick. But, from that moment too, it’s like just sharing with some of the leaders of the team, and then if they’re talking to guys, just giving guys a heads up like, ‘Hey, coach went through this and this is how he’s doing and stuff. He hit me back, so he’s good, he’s talking.’ I shared with some guys, and then when we first got back in the locker room and stuff, just sharing with guys around the locker room area, just giving them a heads up that he’s good and all that kind of thing.”

A lot of people are saying how this team runs on autopilot, it’s a well-oiled machine, everybody’s kind of picking out their own role, but doing what they need to do. It’s a player-led team. If you guys do get down to Week One and have to go out there without Shanahan because they don’t want to rush him back given the concussion, how seamless do you think that would be?

“Yeah obviously, hopefully it’s not going to be like that, but if it were I know that we have the right guys in the building. Like I said before, with the assistant coaches, with the head coaching experience, with Raheem and Chris Foerster and Klay Kubiak, we’ve got guys that can definitely lead this team in moments, especially when we have guys player-wise that are, we’ve been around the block and understand how this goes and what all goes into winning games in the NFL. We have that. We have older guys that can help the young guys and we can go through installs, we can go through practice, we can go through game prep and understand what it takes. And so, that’s the good thing. Obviously, we want our guy with us in Kyle and the goal is when he’s ready, he’s going to come back in and it’s going to be smooth, we’re just going to keep going. Obviously, you don’t want the worst to happen, but we’ll be ready for it, but more than anything we just want Kyle to be good and healthy and ready to come back when he’s ready.”

How was it dealing with the linebackers and DBs today? They were pretty active on you guys.

“Yeah, they did a good job. I feel like Raheem’s done a good job of coaching up our DBs in terms of being sticky and that match coverage, it’s real. So, they’ve done a really good job with it. I think we have the right personnel on the defense to play that kind of defense. And then having [LB] Dre [Greenlaw] and [LB] Fred [Warner] underneath makes it harder too. It’s like, those windows are tight. And so, when the defense does a good job of having tight coverage and tipping the ball up in the air, it’s real. So, they’ve done a good job, day two of camp. We’re all just going to continue to install more stuff and hopefully the competition level just keeps getting higher and higher.”

DB Deommodore Lenoir said that he could travel 20, 30 hours, he just wants to play football. Do you share that sentiment about traveling around the world and playing football?
“One-hundred percent. I love that. Yeah, football is football. I think the prep is definitely going to be a little bit different going across the world. But, more than anything, when it comes down to it, it’s like, we’re playing in the NFL. It’s four quarters of NFL football. And we’ve all dreamed of this as kids, to be able to do stuff like this. It’s football, it’s fun, and you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do.”

What’s it been like in practice so far getting some new looks from this Raheem Morris defense? He’s adding, you know, some of his own stuff, and T Trent Williams was talking about it yesterday, just, I guess, keeping things fresh after so many years, going up against kind of the same thing.

“Yeah. I was talking to Fred about that. It’s just, it is different. You know, in camp, it’s usually the four-down, traditional stud defensive linemen with three linebackers and a strong quarter-shell defense. And now it’s like, all right, we’ve got five down, he gives us all these different kind of looks and the shell’s always changing and stuff. So, Raheem’s done a good job with I think trying to disguise things against the quarterback, but also the techniques that the DBs are playing with now, too. That’s a whole other thing. So, I like it. It feels, for me it’s fun because going into the season, I feel like this is the kind of stuff that we’re starting to see more in the NFL. And so, for us on offense, it gives us good practice and good reps and stuff. You’ve got to win in your one-on-one matchups and things like that. So, I think overall across the board, it’s been good work on both sides of the ball.”

The sticky coverage that you were talking about, does Stribling’s size kind of stand out in those scenarios? A crowded defensive backfield and developing that trust?

“Yeah. I think he’s done a good job with, obviously the footwork and getting off the line and stuff, but the other half of football is up top, using your hands at receiver and still trying to create separation obviously legally. But, that’s a part of the thing, using your strength against the DB and stuff. So, having Stribling with his speed, but also his strength, like, that’s something that you need at receiver, and he’s shown that the first couple days here. So, I’m excited to keep building with him and I know he’s going to continue to do it over and over again.”

Your locker’s next to Greenlaw, and he was gone. Obviously, you guys are friends. He’s now back in the room. What does his presence mean to the room?

“Oh, it’s huge. Obviously when he came back, it was like, all right, he’s like one of our brothers that came back and it’s almost like, let’s pick up where we left off after that season when he left. But, just his presence, the dog that he has, when he steps on the field, it’s like everyone feeds off that kind of energy. And being on offense, I’ll look across the ball and be like, ‘oh shoot. You’ve got Dre Greenlaw next to Fred again, and they’re flying around and they’re filling the gaps. You could feel them.’ And so, just having him in our locker room and his presence is a real thing. And he looks out for all the young guys too. He’s a real brother, but the minute that dude steps on the field, it’s like, you’ve got to be ready. We all just want to go to war with him. So, I think it was a huge addition to get him back.”