49ers quarterback Brock Purdy landed in the concussion protocol after Monday night’s loss to the Vikings. On Wednesday, coach Kyle Shanahan suggested that Purdy could be cleared to play on Sunday vs. the Bengals.
“He does have enough time,” Shanahan told reporters. “Just, he’s got to go through the process.” (Technically, coaches aren’t supposed to make such comments about players in the protocol. But the league has gotten very lax about this in recent years, which means that more and more coaches are doing it.)
It’s not impossible that Purdy will be cleared, but it’s also not likely. Multiple doctors will have to sign off on a return to play with only six days between games. That’s not a common occurrence.
Shanahan explained that nothing seemed to be amiss until the 49ers were flying back to San Francisco.
“I don’t get to talk to him when I’m calling plays in,” Shanahan said. “But on the sidelines a couple of those series, nothing with [quarterbacks coach Brian] Griese hearing it. I know after the game he talked to you guys and [vice president of football communications] Corry [Rush], so it’s kind of a surprise when I woke up on the plane.”
Purdy seemed to be fined during his post-game press conference. I also watched him carefully after noticing the wicked shot to the head he took on a quarterback sneak in the fourth quarter. He seemed to be fine then, too.
Shanahan said the injury “possibly” happened on one of the back-to-back quarterback sneaks.
“We don’t know for sure because he didn’t start getting it until the plane,” Shanahan said. “So I don’t know exactly, but I’d probably guess that.”
It’s frankly odd that a concussion evaluation wasn’t mandated by the various spotters assigned with one task — look for head trauma and other potential injuries. The overhead shot of the first sneak showed a significant blow to the head. At a minimum, he should have at least gotten a cursory check after the drive ended.
Maybe he would have passed it. Or maybe a trained professional would have noticed something that wasn’t obvious to the untrained eye.
