49ers coaches give glowing QB report before summer break

SANTA CLARA — Revisiting the 49ers’ quarterback carousel last season – possibly the NFL’s wildest ever — ultimately leads to their NFC Championship Game trauma.

“Oh man, I didn’t really want to go back there right now,” 49ers quarterbacks coach Brian Griese said last week with a sigh.

The 49ers are still putting the pieces back together, literally. Case in point: Brock Purdy just started a throwing program on an elbow magically repaired from that 31-7 NFC Championship loss at Philadelphia.

Coming within a win of a Super Bowl still stings, all due respect to the four quarterbacks hurt along the way – Purdy, Trey Lance, Jimmy Garoppolo and Josh Johnson — in a fascinating but ultimately unsatisfying season.

“We certainly had our fair share of high-stress situations,” Griese recalled Thursday. “And I felt like our guys — all four of them, really — did an unbelievable job of managing those, and I think that’s a big reason why we had success as a team.”

Their upcoming encore promises no shortage of drama, or quarterbacks, ideally. Purdy and Lance are passing health checks in their respective comebacks, while the 49ers integrate veteran newcomers Sam Darnold and Brandon Allen.

Klint Kubiak, the 49ers’ new pass-game coordinator, likes what he sees from all involved, including his younger brother, Klay, Griese’s assistant.

“Coach Griese and Klay, they are drilling those quarterbacks in meetings every day, and they don’t let Brock get away with it, even though he’s not getting to participate,” Klint Kubiak said. “They’re staying on top of him. I really, really like just Brock’s overall demeanor.”

Here is a progress report on all four quarterbacks, before the 49ers enter mandatory minicamp Tuesday and Wednesday before summer break:

BROCK PURDY

In winning eight straight games upon replacing Garoppolo, Purdy’s composure, accuracy and escapability are what most impressed Griese.

Now what, assuming Purdy returns to full health?

“I’d love to see him continue to grow in every aspect of playing quarterback,” Griese said, “and that’s timing, it’s rhythm, it’s accuracy, it’s reading defenses, it’s playing from the pocket, limiting turnovers, giving our team the best chance to win.”

Griese’s relayed that directly to Purdy, who has been involved in the 49ers’ offseason program since it started April 17, though he only began throwing a football (on the side) last Monday and Wednesday in “incredibly encouraging” fashion, as general manager John Lynch put it.

Klint Kubiak, previously a Denver Broncos and Minnesota Vikings assistant, likes the first impression Purdy has made on him.

“He’s really serious about the game,” Kubiak said. “You can tell and you can see why he’s so successful. He just kind of has that ‘it’ factor as a player.”

Yes, Purdy also had a great supporting cast when the took the stage at age-22 last season. Staying even-keeled in a detail-oriented scheme amid pressure-packed games was “not normal for a quarterback his age,” Griese said. “… I’m excited to get him back, get him healthy and see how good he can be.”

TREY LANCE

As balanced as Griese was in his praise and expectations for Purdy, a colossal amount of respect was given to Lance, especially for how he handled last season, after Lance sustained a fractured lower right fibula and torn ankle ligaments in the first quarter of the home opener.

“Obviously, he couldn’t play on the field but he impacted this team in a positive way and you could feel it,” Griese said. “I could feel it. I could feel it in our quarterback room. I know Brock could feel it. I know the guys on offense could feel it.”

That was evident during games when Lance was lending support to Purdy on the sideline.

“That’s not a given, you know, especially at a quarterback position,” Griese added. “You can slink away and just go lick your wounds and get healthy and come back next year. But that’s not who Trey Lance is. And that’s why I told him I was so proud of him for what he was able to accomplish off the field, because he wasn’t able to do it on the field.”

Lance took first-team reps in the opening organized team activities two weeks ago, then rotated in after Darnold in last Wednesday’s session that was open to reporters.

Chatter about Lance’s throwing mechanics is “overblown” in Griese’s eyes, noting how an August 2021 finger fracture impacted Lance’s grip and had reverberating effects. Griese said as “gruesome” as Lance’s ankle injury looked, it hasn’t had a visible impact during OTAs.

SAM DARNOLD

After three years with the New York Jets and the past two with the Carolina Panthers, Darnold signed a one-year deal with the 49ers, who believe their structure is just the tonic Donald needs.

“He’s been through a lot in his career,” Griese said. “Everybody that knows football or watches football can see the skillset that Sam has. To me, it was about ‘Can we give him the structure and the stability upon which that he can see how good of a player he can be?’

“And I think that our system, our offense is tailor suited to a quarterback coming in and finding their footing and getting stability. And so Sam has that opportunity now, and we’ll see what he does with that opportunity.”

BRANDON ALLEN

Allen, 30, is the oldest of the QB quartet, and he’s on the fifth team of his eight-year career. After spending the past two years as Joe Burrow’s backup on the AFC-contending Bengals, Allen has been impressively efficient in limited reps at OTAs.

“He’s got a lot of experience and is savvy,” Griese said. “He’s a natural with his feet. He’s accurate. He’s done a lot of things really well. Probably the most important thing to us was: Can we bring in somebody that’ll be good for room? And Brandon’s been that. I’m excited about that.”

Allen is 2-7 as a starter, and even though he lost his last start, he impressed Griese with the way he handled that 2021 regular-season finale for the Bengals, who sat most of their starters and left Allen as easy prey (four sacks) for the Cleveland Browns and Myles Garrett. “He’s getting his brains beat in and he’s just out there competing,” Griese said. “He’s come in here and is very smart, very bright, has picked it up.”

Added Kubiak: “The competition in that room right now is pretty fierce. Right now, we’re just trying to get the guys familiar with the kind of concepts we want to take into training camp and give them some reps that so that they can cut it loose when we put pads on here in August.”