SANTA CLARA — One major question surrounding the beginning of the 49ers’ season was answered Tuesday.
Second-year quarterback Brock Purdy is "cleared and ready to go," general manager John Lynch proclaimed on the day the 49ers reported to training camp at team headquarters.
Coach Kyle Shanahan said Purdy will line up with the first-team offense any time he is on the field.
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There is no doubt Purdy will be the starter on Sunday, Sept. 10, when the 49ers open the regular season at the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Purdy is not in competition with anyone other than himself as he sets out to improve on his breakout rookie season and take the 49ers deeper into the NFL playoffs.
The 49ers’ practice schedule this summer calls for three days of work followed by a day off. For at least the first couple weeks of training camp, Purdy will not practice three consecutive days. His first day off after throwing earlier this week will be Wednesday, when the 49ers hold their first practice.
Even though the 49ers will adhere to a "pitch count" for Purdy, as he returns from significant elbow surgery, he still will end up with a far-greater amount of practice time than he got as a rookie a year ago as he rarely got on the practice field as the No. 3 quarterback in camp behind Trey Lance and Nate Sudfeld.
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"I keep reminding Brock, who might be stressed out he's missing a day or something, I keep reminding him all he got were (No. 3) reps last year for like the first month," Shanahan said. “So he's going to have a lot more reps regardless of what happens this year.”
Typically, the starter and the No. 2 quarterback get close to the same number of practice snaps. The third quarterback picks up scraps here and there.
The challenge for Shanahan and his staff this summer will be to carve out considerable practice time for Lance, Sam Darnold and Brandon Allen, too.
"Hopefully, it'll balance out," Shanahan said. "I know we're going to give them all an (opportunity) and that's also why those preseason games will probably be a little bit more for those guys, too, than they have been in the past."
With Purdy firmly set as the team’s starter, the only quarterback competitions that will be taking place this summer are for the other spots on the 49ers’ depth chart.
Purdy proved himself during the eight games he played after taking over for injured Jimmy Garoppolo at the end of last season.
That stint, which included postseason victories over Seattle and Dallas, set Purdy on a path to be the 49ers’ unquestioned starter as long as he got healthy, stayed healthy and played well.
And now that he is healthy, it is clearly his team.
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