RESOLVING THE LEDGER
This is one outlet's own report from Yahoo Sports — the article as it was filed. Other outlets are covering the same event; open the full story to compare every source side by side.
See the full story · 1 sourcesSan Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy may find help in the passing game from an unlikely source this season.
The 49ers are three weeks into training camp and are already dealing with a rash of injuries at wide receiver. Ricky Pearsall is out for the season due to surgery on a knee injury from last season, and Mike Evans and De'Zhaun Stribling are dealing with quad and hamstring issues, respectively.
With a rotating cast of wide receivers from various spots at or near the bottom of the depth chart, Purdy has started turning to his tight ends even without George Kittle on the field while he recovers from an Achilles tear he suffered in January.
ESPN's Nick Wagoner on Wednesday posted a detailed practice recap and pointed directly to the team's pair of backup TEs from last season as players who stood out during the team portion of the session.
Farrell hasn't proved much of an option in the pass game since his arrival but he was very involved on Wednesday. Had him down for five catches, all from Purdy, including three in the move the ball period to set up Watkins' TD. Jake Tonges has been more involved, too, and with all the injuries at WR, it's clear Purdy has a level of comfort with the TEs that can pay dividends.
The 49ers won't be able to compete for a Super Bowl if Purdy regularly has to rely on Farrell and Tonges for targets.
However, having more arrows in that quiver is never a bad thing. If the 49ers can have those two TEs step up in any time Kittle misses while also giving head coach Kyle Shanahan a bigger menu of options with multiple TE personnel groups.
Ideally Farrell and Tonges won't play key roles for the 49ers because Kittle, Christian McCaffrey and the receiving corps stay largely healthy for all 18 weeks. Training camp is about preparing for a variety of regular season scenarios, though, and it appears Purdy will be comfortable airing it out if the passing game requires him to dish out targets to his backup tight ends.
More 49ers: 49ers injury problem may not be as bad as it looks on paper
This article originally appeared on Niners Wire: Brock Purdy finding help in 49ers passing game from unlikely source
AIPROPX is an independent multi-source news index — we track, compare, and connect coverage from across the web into one place you won't find anywhere else.