Brock Purdy Camp Update — August 23: Four of Six in His Preseason Debut

Brock Purdy played his first preseason drive of 20 26 on Thursday in Los Angeles — four of six for 29 yards, three of the completions to rookie De'Zhaun Stribling, before giving way to Mac Jones in a 41 to 17 win over the Chargers, per Brooke Evans at 49ers.com. The week around that cameo was a full range of Purdy. Tuesday's joint practice against the Chargers was the rough end, and he graded it himself: "Honestly, I don't think it was our best day... fundamentals were just a little off," per David Bonilla at 49ers Webzone. Saturday back home was the better end by Bonilla's charting — nine of 15 with a 65-yard touchdown to Jake Tonges and a red-zone score to Mike Evans, though the defense closed the session with three straight forced incompletions. Even the opposing coach filed a review: Jim Harbaugh, unprompted, per David Lombardi at the SF Standard — "His timing, his decision-making, his accuracy. I just like how cool he is."

The target picture around him moved in both directions. Stribling is up to 11 catches for a hundred nine yards through two preseason games but came out of Saturday with a day-to-day shoulder, per Bonilla. Mike Evans returned from his own tightness to catch that red-zone score, Adam Schefter of ESPN reported an encouraging surgeon checkup that gives George Kittle a legitimate chance at Week 1, and Christian Kirk remains sidelined with his calf strain, per Bonilla. Christian McCaffrey still hasn't practiced.

Back in June we previewed Purdy as a player whose last season measured his availability, not his ability, and the questions were the body and the supporting cast — a healthy August with live snaps now banked speaks to the first, while the second is still being decided in the training room. What to watch: whether Purdy plays in Thursday's finale in Las Vegas, and which of his targets are standing when the roster goes to 53 on Sunday. We'll check after cut day.

_Data via nflverse._