Brock Purdy's number of reps in practice on Thursday indicated he likely will not play in Saturday's preseason game with the Broncos, but Kyle Shanahan has left open the possibility of him feature against Denver.

Purdy took the vast majority of 11 on 11 reps on Thursday, playing 28 snaps per Matt Maiocco of NBC Sports Bay Area, as the 49ers rounded off their practice week.

By Maiocco's tally, Purdy has taken 95 reps over the course of three successive practices. He was this week cleared to drop the additional day off from the schedule the 49ers laid out for him following his return from offseason elbow surgery.

That workload, and the fact backups Trey Lance and Sam Darnold saw limited reps, would appear to indicate Purdy sitting out as he did the preseason opener with the Raiders last Sunday. Darnold had 13 reps in practice and Lance just four.

But, speaking to KNBR (h/t 49ers Webzone), Shanahan hinted Purdy could play a series or two with the starters in the first quarter before handing the reins over to Darnold for the rest of the first half.

"We plan on Sam going the first half still. We just finished practice here, so I'm going to talk to the trainers with the rest of our team and everything. I might get Brock in there for a little bit. I have not finalized that yet, but thinking about playing the ones for possibly a series, a little in the first quarter. But whatever that is, if we don't (play Purdy), Sam will have the whole first half. And if those guys do open the game with Brock and some of the ones, it probably won't be much longer than a series or two."

Given the workload Purdy has undertaken of late, there appears to be little reason to risk him in a game where the score is meaningless, especially coming off one of his better recent practice sessions.

Purdy went 14 of 20 without an interception at the end of a week in which Shanahan faced questions about his quarterback's tendency for tossing picks in practice.

Shanahan expressed little concern about Purdy's interceptions when asked about them on Wednesday.

"You never want interceptions in any situation. There’s never one answer. Each one’s different. But, I definitely like having interceptions a lot more in practice than in games. And one thing Brock does is he lets it rip. He’s not worried about anything else. Especially not worried about people counting his interceptions at practice and stuff. And that doesn’t mean they’re all right, but I do like him letting it rip and I like him learning from things that he can’t get away with, things he can’t get away with. And I think our defense got their hands on a lot of balls, not just Brock’s. But I definitely want our quarterbacks to cut down on them, but I also want them to make real throws and when they make mistakes to learn from them."

On Thursday, Purdy managed to let it rip without giving the ball away to his defense. As well as using the game with Denver to knock off any residual rust, Shanahan may want to evaluate Purdy's ability to deliver decisively without putting the ball in harm's way in a situation where the stakes are at least theoretically higher than practice.

Purdy thrived last season in part through his ability to deliver quickly and with evident poise while producing just seven turnover-worthy throws on 170 attempts, according to Pro Football Focus.

If he shows he can still do the same for even just a couple of series against Denver, it may give the 49ers even more confidence in Purdy ahead of a tricky return to regular-season action versus the Steelers in Week 1.

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