San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy is currently uncertain for the Niners’ upcoming game against the Cincinnati Bengals as Purdy is in the NFL’s concussion protocol after playing all of Monday night’s game against the Minnesota Vikings, according to ESPN’s Nick Wagoner.
Purdy, who made it through the Monday night tilt without any apparent issues, began feeling symptoms as the team was traveling back to the Bay Area and was placed in the protocol Tuesday, per 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan.
“He started getting symptoms on the plane,” Shanahan said. “We finally found that out when we landed. We were all pretty asleep, but then he got all checked up yesterday and now he’s in the protocol.”
Shanahan added that, by the league’s rules of the concussion protocol, Purdy does have enough time to clear it to be able to go against the Bengals, adding that Purdy was already feeling better Wednesday than Tuesday and would be able to participate in parts of the walk-through as he goes through the protocol.
“Brock didn’t take a practice rep versus Seattle on ‘Thursday Night Football’ until pregame warmups, and he had to shut those down a little bit, too,” Shanahan said. “So, he didn’t really get a real rep that week until Play 1 and he played pretty good. So, probably stick with that.”
As NFL journalists have pointed out, if Purdy is unavailable the Niners will turn to veteran Sam Darnold.
“I have as much confidence in Sam as I could have with someone that I haven’t gotten into a real NFL game with,” Shanahan said. “He was great in the offseason. He’s been great here in these seven weeks so far and he’s always ready to go.”
