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Kyle Shanahan announces Brock Purdy as starting QB over Mac Jones for Week 11 vs. Cardinals

Meby: Nick Geddes9 hours agoNickGeddesNews
Brock Purdy
Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images

San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan announced Thursday that Brock Purdy will return as the team’s starting quarterback in Sunday’s Week 11 road contest against the Arizona Cardinals. Mac Jones, who has started eight of 10 games this season in place of Purdy, will return to the bench.

Purdy has started just two games for the 49ers due to injuries. He initially got banged up in Week 1 before returning in Week 4. However, a turf toe injury has become a recurring issue and has kept him sidelined. Incidentally, turf toe is the same injury that has kept Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow sidelined since Week 2.

In that very limited playing time, Purdy completed 65.8% of his passes for 586 yards, four touchdowns and four interceptions. Jones played well in relief of Purdy. He has completed 69.6% of his passes for 2,151 yards, 13 touchdowns and six interceptions.

Kyle Shanahan: ‘Not a hard decision’ to go back to Brock Purdy

There was some thought that the 49ers, who are 5-3 under Jones, could ride the hot hand even as Purdy got healthy. Shanahan is going back to Purdy, who signed a five-year, $265 million extension this past offseason and led the 49ers to a Super Bowl just two seasons ago.

“No. It’s not a hard decision,” Shanahan said earlier this week. “It’s just more about Brock’s health. It’s been awesome how Mac has played. He has been great. But we’ve got a lot of confidence in Brock, and we know Brock will play at a high level too as long as he’s healthy.”

Getting healthy would be massive for the 49ers. The NFC West has proven to be one of the toughest divisions in the NFL this season. At 6-4, San Francisco is in third place, trailing the Seattle Seahawks and Los Angeles Rams, who are both 7-2. Arizona trails them at 3-6, making it a key game to pick up a win. That’s particularly true after San Francisco has lost two of its last three games, including last week to the Rams.

On3’s Dan Morrison contributed to this report.