49ers Training Camp Day 7 breakdown: Quarterbacks

Day 7 of the San Francisco 49ers training camp is officially over, as it was a lighter practice following an off day Wednesday, as the team implemented a ton of play-action work, while several key players on either side of the ball rested.

The offense had a good day, as each of the quarterbacks played solid collectively, despite the absence of left tackle Trent Williams, left guard Aaron Banks, and running back Christian McCaffrey.
11-on-11s: 1st Period

Brock Purdy (QB1)

Brock Purdy overthrows an open Deebo Samuel running a 15-20 yard crosser, misfiring with pressure coming on the play. This was one of Purdy’s poor throws of the day, as he flat-out missed an open receiver looking to push the ball downfield, which was a little surprising, given his regular success in the intermediate portion of the field.

Sam Darnold(QB2)

Sam Darnold hits Charlie Woerner on a screen pass, who runs for a few yards.

Trey Lance(QB3)

Trey Lance hits Willie Snead for 20 yards off play-action on a well-placed ball in zone coverage, putting it low and in front of the receiver at the end of his route to ensure that Snead wouldn’t get hit from behind by safety Myles Hartsfield, who was converging on the play. This was arguably Lance’s best throw of the day, as it was delivered with good timing and in a solid location with where the defense was.

Brock Purdy (QB1)

Brock Purdy hits Brandon Aiyuk on a 12-15 yard slant between the first and second windows, with Oren Burks in close coverage. This was Purdy’s best throw of the day on an impressive delivery, as he fit the ball into a tight window with great timing and placement, hitting Aiyuk in stride, who then turned upfield for a solid gain after the catch. Purdy seems to have a great understanding of his arm capacity, which aids him in timing these types of throws well, allowing for chunk plays.
Brock Purdy hits Jordan Mason on a screen pass for a few yards.
Brock Purdy finds Brandon Aiyuk for a shorter gain in front of the sticks, with Ambry Thomas in coverage.
Brock Purdy hits Jauan Jennings on a play-action crosser for 20 yards. This was another good throw from Purdy, with good placement and vision in taking the intermediate shot.

Trey Lance(QB2)

Trey Lance hits Tay Martin on a well-timed 15-yard out-route. Lance has begun to excel with his timing, placement, and anticipation on deeper out-routes, which has been on display a few times during training camp, and is notable, given his struggles in missing high and wide on these types of plays during last offseason.
Trey Lance throws an incompletion behind his intended target.
Trey Lance hits Deebo Samuel on a screen pass for a good gain. Good job from Lance in getting the ball out quick for Samuel to work with an open field ahead of him.

Sam Darnold(QB3)

Sam Darnold hits Brandon Aiyuk on an eight-yard curl-type route over the middle of the field.
Sam Darnold hits Ronnie Bell on the exact same route that Aiyuk ran the play before for another six-to-eight yards, getting the ball out quickly. This seemed intentional to re-rep that throw, as Darnold looked immediately for Bell and got rid of the ball quickly.

11-on-11s: 2nd Period

Brock Purdy(QB1)

The offense commits a false start, as it seemed Charlie Woerner jumped prior to the snap. The offense continued with the play, and Purdy threw a quick pass to Ross Dwelley coming off a play-action rollout to his left side. The offensive line committed false starts on the next two plays, with one being a run, and the other killing the drive in a shaky stretch to begin the second session of team drills.

Trey Lance(QB2)

Trey Lance hits Brandon Aiyuk for an 8-9 yard gain over the middle. Lance threw this one with good velocity, delivering a strike to the crossing Aiyuk quickly.

Sam Darnold(QB3)

Sam Darnold throws an incompletion intended for Brayden Willis on a short play-action rollout to his left that was broken up.

Move The Ball Period

Brock Purdy(QB1)

1st & 10: The offense commits a false start penalty
1st & 15: Brock Purdy throws an incompletion to an open Brandon Aiyuk for about 15 yards, missing the receiver wide.
2nd & 15: Jordan Mason rushes for a solid gain of around 7-8 yards on a halfback draw.
3rd & 8: Brock Purdy throws a checkdown to Jordan Mason, who was lined up as a receiver, as a blitzing George Odum, who was left untouched off the edge, was in his face. Mason caught the pass and turned upfield, gaining the first down.
1st & 10: Jordan Mason rushes for a solid gain of 10+ yards to the right side.
1st & 10: Brock Purdy finds Brandon Aiyuk for a 5-7 yard gain between the windows of the linebackers, with Oren Burks trailing in close coverage. This was reminiscent of the earlier play, but at a shorter yardage.
2nd & 3: Jordan Mason rushes for a short gain, getting the first down.

1st & 10: Brock Purdy throws an incompletion to Deebo Samuel deep down the right sideline, with Samuel Womack generating a pass-breakup on the play. Samuel had a slight advantage, but Purdy underthrew the pass a little, forcing the wideout to turn around to make the play. It wasn’t a terrible ball, as it would’ve hit Samuel near the chest area after he stopped and turned around, but Womack was there in coverage ready to break it up. Had that pass been in front, it would’ve been a deep completion into the redzone.

Sam Darnold(QB2)

1st & 10: Sam Darnold hits Danny Gray on an in-breaking route for nearly 20 yards. Gray had the step on Ambry Thomas, and made a great catch, with the pass hitting him in his hands as he got up for the ball, leading to a big completion.
1st & 10: There was a short run, resulting in a zero-yard gain, although I couldn’t get the running back on the play.
2nd & 10: Sam Darnold hits Cameron Latu for a 10-yard pass toward the right side, earning him a first down with Dee Winters in coverage.
1st & 10: Sam Darnold hits Danny Gray for 7 yards on a play-action rollout to his left side.
2nd & 3: Tyrion-Davis Price rushes for a solid gain of six yards, earning a first down at the 17-yard line.
1st & 10: Sam Darnold throws an incompletion over Brayden Willis in the back of the endzone, with Dee Winters and Demetrius Flannigan-Fowles in coverage. With it being his last play, it seemed that Darnold looked to just take a shot, reminiscent of Purdy’s decision on the final throw of his move-the-ball session.

Trey Lance(QB3)

1st & 10: Trey Lance throws an interception to Dee Winters on an intermediate shot intended for Tay Martin. Lance wanted the deep shot, but never saw Winters, and the pass seemed that it may have been slightly behind his receiver, had it not been an interception. Head coach Kyle Shanahan gave his take on the play after practice, pointing out the importance of taking the checkdown.
1st & 10: There was a short run by a running back for one yard.
2nd & 9: Trey Lance hits Brayden Willis on a play-action this time on a play to the left, where the tight end made a nice catch near the sidelines for a five-yard gain.
3rd & 4: Trey Lance throws the ball into the ground after seeing pressure on the field consistently, which appeared to be defensive end Kerry Hyder on this rep. Lance was immediately met with pressure after the play-action motion.

Final Stats

Brock Purdy: 6/9
Trey Lance: 5/8, 1 INT, 1 throwaway
Sam Darnold: 6/8

Overall Grade

While none of the quarterbacks had phenomenal days per-say, it was arguably the strongest day collectively for the quarterbacks, as all three had different stretches of ups and downs. Darnold earns a “B+” in my book, as he was accurate, while keeping the ball out of harms way and not making many poor decisions.

Brock Purdy earns a “B” for being able to hit throws at all levels on the field Thursday, although some poorly-placed passes that missed open targets drag his grade down to here.

Trey Lance earns a “B-“, as his interception clouded what was a strong start and solid overall day for the former No. 3 overall pick, given that he made a few intermediate/deep throws. Still, he put the ball in harms way and missed on two different throws, lowering his full grade.