SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Two of the San Francisco 49ers’ most important players didn’t have long to wallow in sorrow after the team’s devastating loss in Super Bowl LVIII.
Star linebacker Fred Warner’s wife, Sydney, gave birth to the couple’s first child — Beau Anthony Warner — on March 7.
“I had to get over that loss really quick,” Warner said on Monday, “because I had something really important coming up.”
Quarterback Brock Purdy, meanwhile, got married to his fiancée, Jenna Brandt, on March 9. The wedding came just a day before the one-year anniversary, March 10, of the elbow surgery he underwent after tearing his UCL to close 2023.
“So for me, it’s been a different kind of offseason,” Purdy said on Monday with a smile.
Big offseason moves!
Congrats guys ❤️ pic.twitter.com/9QoCgdejiv
— San Francisco 49ers (@49ers) April 2, 2024
It’s a time of new beginnings for the 49ers, both off and on the field. They say they’ve washed away the bitter taste of defeat that hit their palates like a rotten grapefruit on Feb. 11.
For Purdy, the big switch has come in preparation. At this point last year, he was just over a month removed from that elbow surgery, rehabbing diligently with the objective of returning by the 49ers’ September season opener. Though he ultimately met that goal, that was far from a certainty in April 2023.
“It’s nice that I haven’t been on a schedule of rehab, rehab, rehab and stressing if I’m going to make it back for the season or not,” Purdy said. “So it’s been nice to marry Jenna and breathe and reflect on the last two years. It’s just been go, go, go. For me, it’s been really good mentally, having that hunger to come back and be ready to roll.”
Purdy, who reported for the start of the 49ers’ offseason program last week, has added some muscle and worked on his agility so far this offseason. Perhaps most importantly, he’s reviewed game tape from the Super Bowl, during which he went 23-of-38 for 255 yards with one touchdown pass to receiver Jauan Jennings.
“I could have been better,” Purdy said. “When I watch it, I’m real about it. I’ve got to truly learn from it, set the emotions and feelings aside. … Footwork, timing, eyes, concepts — there’s a lot of stuff I think I can clean up and get better at. It’s good that we have a lot of film to watch. After my rookie year, (we only had about) seven games. But now, I can actually attack those things.”
Purdy isn’t eligible for a new contract until next offseason, so he’s stayed away from chatter that a mega deal might be coming his way — especially if he replicates his 2023 performance and again leads the NFL in numerous statistical categories. Last month, 49ers owner Jed York even openly talked about a potential new contract for Purdy in 2024 — but the quarterback himself won’t cross that bridge until he reaches it.
“Getting too caught up in all that kind of stuff, for me, that’s nonsense,” Purdy said. “So I’m taking it one day at a time and getting better.”
Purdy is also keeping his distance from opining strongly on the contractual situation involving the 49ers and star receiver Brandon Aiyuk, his top target last season. Aiyuk is entering the final season of his rookie deal with the 49ers, but he’s eligible for and wants a new contract now. That’s led to a degree of uncertainty about the future.
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“I love BA,” Purdy said. “What we’ve done is pretty cool. I’m just thankful I have and had the opportunity to play with him and throw him the ball and win games with him. It’s been awesome. We’re at the time of the year where you don’t know. I do trust John (Lynch) and Kyle (Shanahan) in terms of getting guys who are going to make plays and be the right fit for our offense. It’s a business. You have asks and negotiations and all these kinds of things. At the end of the day, BA has been a brother to me and I wish the best for him. But we’re at that time of the year where negotiations happen and the business side of things kicks in.”
Warner, meanwhile, drew on his own experience — he signed a record contract with the 49ers in 2021 — when discussing Aiyuk’s situation.
“Anytime there’s that type of money on the line — we’re talking 10s of millions of dollars to perform at the highest level — it’s going to take time,” Warner said. “But I can only speak to my own experience.”
That experience has also involved plenty of on-field change for the linebacker this offseason.
With his running mate, Dre Greenlaw, rehabbing from the Achilles he ruptured in the Super Bowl, Warner has spent the first month of spring getting to know new teammates at his position. The 49ers signed former All-Pro linebacker De’Vondre Campbell and special teams ace Ezekiel Turner, formerly of the Arizona Cardinals, last month.
“De’Vondre has been awesome as a seasoned veteran in this league,” Warner said. “I’ve watched and admired his game for a long time. I always knew 47 (Turner) on Arizona because that was the guy we were always circling on special teams meetings as the guy we had to stop.”
Fred Warner expects a smooth transition to new defensive coordinator Nick Sorensen. (Thearon W. Henderson / Getty Images)
But perhaps the most significant development for Warner has related to the coaches he’s working with. The 49ers fired defensive coordinator Steve Wilks shortly after last season ended. They replaced him with existing staffer Nick Sorensen, who’s been tasked with returning the defense to some of its original tenets, and added former Los Angeles Chargers head coach Brandon Staley to the defensive staff.
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Warner, as the 49ers defender with a radio in his helmet, is the primary conduit for communication between the coaching staff and players. He’s talked shop with Sorensen and Staley, and he’s bullish on what the future with both coaches might bring after the 49ers regressed defensively in 2023.
“Nick, he knows a lot of ball,” Warner said. “I think it’ll be a great transition. We’ve just got to get better at the fundamentals of what we do. And then there have to be some tweaks in there. … I’ve chatted with Brandon Staley. He’s implementing some new stuff. You can tell he’s been around the game. You can never have too many smart guys in the room.”
And one should never underestimate the value of a proper reset, which the 49ers badly needed over the two-plus months since the Super Bowl.
“We went to war together and now we get to do it again,” Purdy said. “It gets you excited.”
The fact that so much has happened off the field since the last journey ended is fueling the 49ers for what’s ahead. Warner even talked about how he might channel Beau’s birth to elevate his own play on the field.
“Now, I have even more to play for in this game,” Warner said. “I already had a lot of motivation, a lot of inner drive, but to look at my son every day and know I’m playing for something else as well, it could get pretty scary.”
It’s a time of new beginnings, indeed.
(Top photo: Ezra Shaw / Getty Images)
