49ers' John Lynch addresses potential Brock Purdy, Mac Jones QB controversy

As recently as Wednesday, San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan insisted that quarterback Brock Purdy will regain his starting job from temporary QB1 Mac Jones as soon as Purdy is considered healthy enough to return to action. 

During a Thursday appearance on San Francisco Bay Area sports radio station KNBR, 49ers general manager John Lynch poured cold water over any potential Purdy-Jones quarterback controversy.

49ers remain Brock Purdy's team

"This is Brock's team, and when he's healthy and able, he'll be back out there," Lynch said about Purdy, per David Bonilla of 49ers WebZone. "I think he got off to a good start with that [during Wednesday's practice]. Thursday is usually our heavy-lifting day. That's our most intense practice during the course of the week. And so, [Thursday's] a big day towards that, and we'll have them both ready, and we'll see where it goes by the end of the week."

Purdy sat out Weeks 2 and 3 of the season with a toe injury, and he hasn't played since he aggravated the issue in Week 4. Meanwhile, Jones went 5-3 across his first eight starts with the club. 

Living legend and current Fox lead in-game NFL analyst Tom Brady is among those who believe the 49ers should stick "with the hot hand," but there's no indication Shanahan wants to play Jones over a healthy Purdy. 

That said, Lynch stopped short of guaranteeing Purdy will get the nod for this coming Sunday's game between the 6-4 49ers and Arizona Cardinals (3-6) at Arizona's State Farm Stadium.

Will Brock Purdy be 49ers' starter vs. Cardinals?

"We're seeing how the week goes, and if he shows that his health and his ability to perform at a level that we know Brock can play at, then yeah, he'll be out there. But we'll see as the week goes on," Lynch said about Purdy's availability for this Sunday. 

Lynch added that the 49ers are "really fortunate to have a great quarterback room and a lot of depth at that position." That's all well and good, but both Lynch and Shanahan sound ready to hand the keys of the team's offense back over to Purdy.