July will shortly turn into August, and soon the San Francisco 49ers will be playing preseason games.
But while the season is nearing, the 49ers aren’t without questions going into 2026.
Over the next few weeks, we will look at each position group and post three questions, whether they are questions that will be answered in August or during the season. First, we start with the quarterback position:
Can Brock Purdy stay healthy?
I wouldn’t say Brock Purdy has been injury-prone over his career; instead,
he’s more prone to be dinged up.
While the 26-year-old has suffered a wide variety of injuries, either the timing or the severity has prevented Purdy from missing too many games up until the 2025 season. An oblique injury in 2022 caused some concern entering a Thursday night game in Seattle, but Purdy toughed it out to help the 49ers beat the Seahawks. Several weeks later, he’d suffer the elbow injury that would knock him and the 49ers out of the NFC Championship Game in Philadelphia. Still, he wouldn’t miss any games the following season, with the offseason being used to recover.
2023 was relatively clean for Purdy, with the exception of a concussion finding him on the injury report prior to a Week 8 loss to the Bengals, capping a three-game losing streak. 2024 was the same as the year before, with a right shoulder injury being the only blip, causing Purdy to miss a drubbing at the hands of the Packers.
Despite that wide range of injuries, Purdy had only missed three games due to injury entering the 2025 season. But then a turf toe injury cost Purdy half of the 2025 season, where Mac Jones entered and kept the 49ers afloat until Purdy returned in Week 11 and finished the season, nearly leading San Francisco to an NFC West crown.
But can Purdy stay healthy for an entire season? He’s been able to mostly avoid serious injury, but can he keep the dings and damage that’s common in an NFL season to prevent his name from hitting the injury report?
If Purdy stays healthy, can he take that next step?
What does the next step even look like for Purdy? It feels as if he’s been floating around that middle tier of quarterback rankings that are oh so popular around this time of year. But how can Purdy find himself inside that top-10 quarterback list?
The first step would be to keep the interceptions at a minimum. Purdy has thrown double-digit picks in each of his last three seasons, which is a concern considering he played just nine games last season. With his 10 interceptions in nine games, Purdy had a career-high 3.5 interception rate, the first time he’s been over three percent in his career.
Since he made his debut in 2022, Purdy has the second-highest interception rate in the league (minimum 1,000 pass attempts):
- Mac Jones – 2.8
- Purdy – 2.7
- Joe Flacco – 2.6
- Tua Tagovailoa – 2.5
- Sam Darnold – 2.5
- Geno Smith – 2.5
That list is a who’s who of interception-prone quarterbacks, but Purdy is likely the best quarterback on that list. If the interception rate can drop, Purdy can find himself in the very-good-to-potentially-elite tier of quarterbacks.
Maybe a fully-healthy season will help Purdy take that step. Maybe even the 49ers revamped receiver room will help as well. But it feels like there’s room for improvement for Purdy, and ideally 2026 will be the year it all comes together for the quarterback.
How will the 49ers handle Mac Jones?
Let’s look at this question through a hypothetical lens.
The trade deadline for the 2026 season lands on November 10. Let’s say the 49ers are 6-2 by the time the Week 10 deadline comes around and Purdy is not only healthy but playing the best ball of his career with no signs of stopping.
Now let’s look around the league. The Vikings are 4-4, staying afloat in the NFC North behind their defense but with subpar quarterback play from either Kyler Murray or JJ McCarthy. Maybe the Falcons or Colts are playing well, but they are less than thrilled with their quarterback situations.
Let’s just say one of those four teams has floated a second-round pick, maybe a third, for Jones to try to right the ship. With Jones on an expiring deal, do the 49ers bite, or do they retain possibly the best backup quarterback in the league as a break-glass-in-case-of-emergency option?
I am just here to ask the questions, not answer them. We will see how it plays out over the next few months, but if something like the scenario above plays out, the 49ers will definitely have a decision to make.
