49ers rule out QB Brock Purdy, DE Nick Bosa for Packers game

SANTA CLARA, Calif. – The San Francisco 49ers enter a big matchup with the Green Bay Packers on Sunday and will be without quarterback Brock Purdy and defensive end Nick Bosa.

The Niners ruled out Purdy (right shoulder soreness) and Bosa (left hip/oblique) on Friday afternoon, just before the team was scheduled to fly to Wisconsin. Coach Kyle Shanahan announced that veteran Brandon Allen will start in Purdy’s place, with Josh Dobbs as the backup.

With Purdy and Bosa out and left tackle Trent Williams (ankle) once again listed as questionable, the 5-5 Niners could be without three of their most important players in a game they desperately need to stay in the postseason hunt to stay.

“We are definitely missing two good players,” Shanahan said. “But we have a lot of good players. We have no chance of winning. We will give our best and expect this to be a very good match.”

While Bosa missing a match to recover has been a real possibility over the past fortnight, Purdy’s absence has become a reality over the past 24 hours. Purdy had limited participation in Wednesday’s practice, but Shanahan and the Niners said they believed his sore shoulder would continue to improve as the week progressed.

Purdy was on the field before Thursday’s practice for some light throwing, but that clearly didn’t go well as he retreated to the weight room for further treatment. That apparent setback caught the 49ers by surprise.

The writing was on the wall earlier Friday when Purdy was nowhere to be seen during the portion of practice open to the media.

“This is something we didn’t think would happen early in the week,” Shanahan said. “We were fully preparing for Brock’s arrival and were a bit surprised about this yesterday.”

According to Shanahan, Purdy had an MRI of the shoulder on Monday and showed no structural damage that would raise concerns that he could miss an extended period of time. But Shanahan also said he wasn’t sure when Purdy will return.

“I don’t want to say there are long-term concerns,” Shanahan said. “We thought he just needed some rest, and we really weren’t worried about him not being good this week. But when he started on Thursday, it just surprised him, surprised us with how it felt. So we had to shut him down.

“I really don’t know what to think. … But how it reacted this week is really up in the air next week. We’ll have to see on Monday.”

Shanahan said Purdy couldn’t pinpoint a specific play where he hurt the shoulder in last week’s loss to the Seattle Seahawks. But Shanahan noticed that Purdy’s shoulder felt tight during the match, causing him to spend more time warming up in the match than normal.

With Purdy out, Allen is set to make his 10th regular-season start since entering the NFL as a sixth-round draft pick from the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2016. Three of those starts were for the Denver Broncos in 2019, the other six for the Cincinnati Bengals in 2020 and 2021. He has been with the 49ers since 2023 and leads the scout team for much of the defense against time.

Allen said he didn’t know he would start until Friday, based on the expectation that Purdy would feel better as the week progressed.

“It’s an opportunity,” Allen said. “The conditions are what they are, but I think our team has had to deal with injuries here and there throughout the year, and there has been a big ‘next-man-up’ mentality. So it’s definitely an opportunity for me to go out.” We have to play well and put our guys in a good position to win the game.”

Shanahan said Purdy will travel with the team to Green Bay despite his injury. However, Bosa will not do that. Bosa has been dealing with injuries to both the hips and obliques, although the left side has been more difficult this week.

Last week against Seattle, Bosa played despite soreness in his right side, but injured the left side with about nine minutes left in the third quarter. He did not return to the match and when the match was over, he said he felt like he was “compensating” for the injury on the right side when he hurt the left side.

Bosa didn’t sound optimistic Wednesday that he would be able to play against the Packers, saying, “It’s getting better every day. We’ll see.”

In addition to Bosa and Purdy, the Niners will be without cornerback Charvarius Ward for the third straight time. Ward returned to practice this week after being away from the team to mourn the death of his 1-year-old daughter. Ward rejoined the team last weekend, but Shanahan said neither side wanted to rush anything because the cornerback had not practiced since the Oct. 27 game against the Dallas Cowboys.

“We were happy to get him back in the building this week,” Shanahan said. “We don’t want to put any pressure on him in any way to get ready to play. He just wanted to get back on the field. … Hopefully he’ll be ready to go next week.”

As for Williams, he played last week against the Seahawks after not practicing all week. He could do it again this week after practicing all three days again, although this time the 49ers have added a long flight to Green Bay to the mix.

Shanahan said a decision on Williams won’t be made until “until kickoff.” Tight end George Kittle, who missed last week with a hamstring injury, does not have a game title and may return against the Packers.