49ers’ QB room with Purdy, Jones is Shanahan’s best to date

SANTA CLARA — The 49ers’ rich quarterback legacy is entering rare territory this training camp.

For the first time in coach Kyle Shanahan’s 10 seasons, he has two quarterbacks who won at least five games for him the previous year.

Full disclosure: There is nary a hint of controversy about Brock Purdy losing his job to Mac Jones. This is not Joe vs. Steve, the next generation.

But only once before in the 49ers’ 80-year history have they carried over quarterbacks with at least five wins apiece the previous season: 1992, with Steve Young and Steve Bono. Each won five starts in 1991, then Young went 14-2 in ’92 en route to an NFC Championship Game loss vs. Dallas; Bono was traded in 1994 to Kansas City.

The 49ers are embracing this Purdy-Jones double-barrel dynamic, from their financial spreadsheets to the locker room’s culture.

It paid off last season, when Jones went 5-3 as a 27-year-old journeyman recapturing his joy of football and high-end value. A Week 1 turf-toe injury sidelined Purdy most of the season’s first half, then he came on strong and posted a 7-2 record, plus their wild-card win at defending champion Philadelphia before a divisional-round blowout at eventual champ Seattle.

A year ago, Purdy signed the richest contract in 49ers history ($265 million over five years). Enough money remained to hire Jones, who spent 2024 in Jacksonville after three years as the Patriots’ first-round pick (No. 15 overall, after the 49ers bypassed him at No. 3 for Trey Lance). Rather than agree to a one-year deal like Sam Darnold did in his 2023 career reboot as the 49ers’ backup, Jones came with a two-year pact ($8.4 million), and he got a $300,000 bonus this offseason, which he hinted was for an incentive he nearly reached.

Jones said the 49ers assured him early this offseason they weren’t looking to trade him, nor did they. And, yet, they have until Nov. 10 to do so if a team urgently needs a young but experienced reborn starter.

For now, the Purdy-Jones fit could be the NFL’s best quarterback pairing, debatable with Cincinnati’s Joe Burrow and Joe Flacco.

PURDY’S PICTURE

Already this marks Year No. 5 for Purdy, and it might be his most pressure-packed to perform, which is saying something considering his Super Bowl run as a rookie, his record-setting comeback in 2023 from elbow reconstruction, and last year’s tidal wave of newness as a multi-millionaire, a father, and a toe-pained quarterback.

He’s never had anyone quite like Mike Evans to target, presuming the Bucs’ all-time leading receiver stays healthy at age 33. That’s the biggest change to an offense that relied too much last year on Christian McCaffrey and can’t count too much too soon on George Kittle’s Achilles recovery this year.

Purdy’s goal going into this season was to work better from the pocket, which is not to say his mobility got him in toe-much trouble last year but that Purdy initially won over Shanahan by his pocket presence, his fierceness and, most of all, his ability to read defenses and prey on mismatches.

THE BACKUP BATTLE

A sore shoulder sidelined Jones from late-spring workouts, but that is not a concern for training camp. He was seen throwing with vigor — and his typical, fun-flowing charisma — at Kittle’s co-hosted Tight End University in late June.

While Jones sat out some organized team activities this spring, the 49ers got a better look at this camp’s ultimate QB battle for the No. 3 spot between 2025 benchwarmer Adrian Martinez and 2025 ACL redshirt Kurtis Rourke.

Martinez looked sharp and impressive in the two OTAs open to the media. His only snap last season came once Jones graciously summoned him to take the victory kneel-down over the New York Giants.

Rourke was no irrelevant seventh-round pick in 2025. The strong-armed, 6-foot-4 Canadian impressed at Indiana, all while on a torn ACL that required surgery and rehabilitation through his 49ers rookie year.

STAT TO KNOW

Brock Purdy’s 104.0 passer rating ranks first in NFL history, at least among quarterbacks with 1,000 attempts. His 1,353 passes have him 147 attempts short of the more widely recognized 1,500-attempt qualifier, where Aaron Rodgers and Lamar Jackson are tied for first with 102.2 ratings.

COACH’S TAKE

“He’s one of the most fun guys to coach because he is never sensitive, and he is very deliberate in everything he does out there.” — Shanahan on Purdy.