The 49ers spent Tuesday juggling a few familiar camp themes at once: quarterback intrigue, Christian McCaffrey’s workload, and another promising showing from rookie running back Kaelon Black.
The biggest ripple may have come from Kurtis Rourke. His sharp 49ers debut has reportedly created a path the team didn’t really have in April: the possibility of moving Mac Jones during the season.
Jones is in the final year of his contract, and the thinking is straightforward enough. If another team gets hit by a quarterback injury, San Francisco could suddenly become the obvious place to call.
That kind of urgency could be enough to change the market, especially if the 49ers believe they can still stay covered behind Brock Purdy.
That was only part of a busy day for the offense. In the joint practice with the Chargers, Purdy and the 49ers finished with a two-minute drill that moved the ball to the red zone but not beyond it.
He completed passes to Deebo Samuel, Jordan Watkins and De’Zhaun Stribling to set up four chances at the end zone. Purdy went to Samuel at the back pylon, then Robinson and Stribling near the front pylon, before a fourth-down jump ball to Watkins in a crowd of powder blue jerseys.
Watkins took a hard hit from Chargers linebacker Daiyan Henley and looked shaken up as he made his way to the sideline.
Purdy didn’t sugarcoat the session afterward either: “Don’t think it was our best day”.
McCaffrey, meanwhile, remained on the sideline as the 49ers continued to handle him carefully. He was seen working out on the Chargers’ practice field before the scrimmage, and he is set to sit out Thursday’s preseason game in Los Angeles.
The next practice after that comes Saturday. Kyle Shanahan made it clear the team’s approach is about caution, not alarm.
“If we were in a game week, I think he would have (practiced) today,” he said. Shanahan also pointed to the bigger picture, noting that McCaffrey had a league-high 413 touches last season.
With McCaffrey out, Black made the most noise in the backfield. After missing the previous two weeks with an adductor injury, the third-round pick looked anything but rusty.
He ripped off a 50-yard run to the left early and kept showing the same kind of violence and strength on later carries. He also caught a ball at the goal line during a red zone drill.
There was another notable absence during practice when veteran wide receiver Mike Evans was pulled after showing tightness in his left quad. He had already missed 12 days earlier in camp because of a quad strain.
Shanahan said, “They just said he had some tightness, so we were being smart, taking him out,” and added, “I don’t think it was anything worse. It’s nothing that I’m worried about right now.”
Evans still managed to connect with Purdy on a 20-yard completion, one of the offense’s better moments, and the pair added another intermediate catch over the middle.
The 49ers also made a roster move, bringing back defensive tackle Evan Anderson. Anderson spent a little more than 250 snaps with the team as an undrafted rookie in 2024, and the expectation is that he can settle in quickly and provide depth until Halton returns. Kaelon Black, who had already flashed on the field, also returned to practice.
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