John Lynch’s widely-reported assertions that there is no tension in the San Francisco 49ers quarterback room is backed up by his offensive coordinator’s take that sidelined starter Brock Purdy continues to play a vital role in game preparations.

The former Mr Irrelevent, who scored a substantial contract extension over the offseason, has featured in just two of the season’s five games to date, and has had to watch as former Patriots first-round pick Mac Jones has come and led the 49ers to three wins as part of their division-leading 4-1 record.

“A cool quality about Brock Purdy is he’s one of the most self-assured people in a very humble way,” GM Lynch told Bay Area radio station KNBR. “It’s hard to explain, but I think it’s one of the things that appealed to us.”

Amongst Jones’ clutch performances since arriving from Jacksonville to fill the back-up QB role was the primetime win over division rivals Los Angeles, which came against expectation as the 49ers continue to battle a lengthy injury list that contains assorted big names aside from their erstwhile starting QB. The back-up, too, has taken his share of physical abuse this season, but has impressed his new team with both his toughness and the ability to pull wins out of the hat.

“You don’t really know until you get a guy and you see him play, but I think we all knew Mac was a tough player,” offensive co-ordinator Klint Kubiak commented. “However, when you see a guy go out there and battle and, you know, work through the injuries and get hit and stay in the game when it’s not looking good or when we have to come from behind in a two-minute drill, you learn a lot about a guy. And Mac just keeps proving time and time again that he’s made of the right stuff — that he’s built to play quarterback in this league.”

Reacting to a question asking whether Jones continues to show competitive traits that his head coach at Alabama, Nick Saban, likened to John McEnroe, Kubiak admitted that there were times when the quarterback’s emotions showed, but not to the point where his performance was impaired.

“I mean, Mac’s very competitive and you do see it in those moments where he might miss a throw or somebody was off on a play — he just has a passion and it can come out sometimes,” the OC explained. “But we love it. I mean, it’s part of what makes him who he is. It makes him a competitor.

“He’s very detailed — he likes things very detailed — and he’s hard on himself. He’s hard on his team-mates and that’s what we like about him.”

Jones hasn’t been perfect in his three appearances to date, but has certainly rebuilt much of a reputation battered on poor teams in New England and Jacksonville. With some sections of the fanbase shouting that he needs to remain under center even when Purdy regains fitness, speculation over tension within the locker room was bound to arise, but Kubiak — like Lynch before him — says that Purdy remains an integral part of the team.

“Brock’s been through our process of preparing for games and how we install and how we watch film and all those things,” Kubiak claimed. “He’s just helpful to those guys, you know, and kind of sharing his process and talking to the guys about what he sees in a defense, kind of how he would do things. So just his presence, his experience, just kind of being words of wisdom for Mac and for Adrian [Martinez]. That’s really all he can do in terms of helping those guys prepare and then just being there to support them.”

Jones is likely to get the start in this weekend’s game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as Purdy continues to deal with a toe injury, although it remains unclear whether Martinez will fill the backup role as he did on the road trip to L.A.

“I’m super impressed with Adrian since he’s been here,” Kubiak commented. “He’s a really smart guy. You know, you can tell, he’s gotten a little more reps just because of Mac progressing a little bit through the week and he hasn’t missed a beat. He’s been on it, and I feel like he can go out there and run our offense. We’re really confident in him.”