San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy wants to keep it simple heading into the 2024 season.
While Purdy will be tasked with high expectations after coming up a possession short of winning Super Bowl 58, he wants to enjoy the process of the 2024 season, rather than rushing to the end as quickly as possible.
“The big picture obviously is the Super Bowl, to win it all,” says Purdy during an interview on behalf of his partnership with Applebee's. “That's every team. But for me, I just want to take it one day at a time and enjoy the process of the season. I feel like everybody wants to get to the end so quickly and win a championship. But for me, If I can just focus on enjoying the practices, the meetings, the grind of it and making every Sunday like it's the biggest game ever, then I feel like everything will fall into place how it needs to.”
The 24-year-old quarterback is coming off of a sensational season in which he finished as a runner-up in MVP voting in his first full season as a starter. The former “Mr. Irrelevant” — he was the last pick of the 2022 NFL Draft at No. 262 — also posted his first Pro Bowl season after leading the NFL in passer rating, yards per completion and yards per attempt. He also broke a 23-year franchise record for single-season passing yardage with 4,280 yards.
What makes his 2023 campaign even more impressive is that Purdy was coming off of a torn UCL suffered during the NFC Championship Game at the conclusion of the 2022 season. Now that the injury is in the rearview mirror, Purdy enjoyed his first full offseason as a starter healthy and is ready to go for the upcoming season.
“Enjoy football, I'm playing in the NFL, I should be so grateful for the opportunity of stepping out on the field on Sundays and competing like I dreamed of as a kid,” says Purdy. “My goal this year is to enjoy every Sunday like it's my last.”
Brock Purdy's inspiration, and it's not Aaron Rodgers
This season, Purdy's first game will actually come on a Monday. Purdy will be going up against one of the most accomplished quarterbacks in the league in the New York Jets' Aaron Rodgers on Monday Night Football. Rodgers will be making his return after suffering a season-ending Achilles injury in the opener last season.
While Purdy is obviously looking forward to the challenge of matching up against Rodgers — the latter is 16 years older than the former — he acknowledges that it's former New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees — not Rodgers — as the quarterback he looked up to most while growing up.
“I would say Drew Brees, just knowing that he wasn't the biggest guy,” Purdy says of the quarterback he looked up to most. “But he was smart. He knew where to go with the ball and he anticipated and read the defense really well. His footwork was good. Those are all things that growing up, I was like, ‘Drew Brees, I feel like he does it right.' He's a great leader and wanted to be like him.”
Applebee's antics
As Purdy enjoys the process of the 2024 season, fans will see him in Applebee's commercials also featuring Philadelphia Eagles running back Saquon Barkley and Detroit Lions head coach Dan Campbell. The partnership also includes a six-part miniseries that follows the three of them as they play the role of servers in Applebee's.
“The content that we shot, Saquon (Barkley) and I in the Applebee's, obviously serving up everyone, the actors,” explains Purdy. “They acted like we were waiters and we just have a bunch of different funny clips within it. I was acting as if we were employed by Applebee's and we're serving up everybody in the store. It was a fun little thing that we did and I'm excited for the whole world to see it.”
Brock Purdy will look to lead the 49ers to their first Super Bowl victory in 30 years when they open the season on Monday Night Football against the Jets.
Follow Us
Subscribe
