In just two short years in the NFL under head coach Kyle Shanahan, San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy has gone from Mr. Irrelevant to a bonafide NFL MVP candidate. If this story feels vaguely familiar, it's because it actually is. Though he already had over half a decade of NFL experience, Matt Ryan went from a second tier “Really good, but not Great” quarterback to the NFL MVP award winner in his second year under then-Falcons offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan, the very same offensive mind who has helped to orchestrate Purdy's rapid and unexpected ascension. Just how similar are these two quarterbacks, you ask?

2016 Matt Ryan (16 games) – 4,944 passing yards, 38 touchdowns, 7 interceptions, 9.3 yards per attempt (best in NFL), 13.3 yards per completion (best in NFL), 117.1 passer rating (best in NFL), 79.6 QBR (best in NFL)

2023 Brock Purdy (projected over 16 games) – 4,373 passing yards, 31 touchdowns, 9 interceptions, 9.9 yards per attempt (best in NFL), 14.1 yards per completion (best in NFL), 116.9 passer rating (best in NFL), 74.7 QBR (best in NFL)

A slight bump for Ryan in yards and touchdowns, but the efficiency stats are essentially dead even between Ryan and the 49ers young quarterback. So yeah, practically football doppelgängers, right? Well, that's not necessarily the way that Kyle Shanahan sees it, at least when he was asked about the difference between Brock Purdy and Matt Ryan's ability to adapt to his offense.

“There was a lot more football in Matt's head. Brock was a clean slate,” Shanahan shared, per Nicholas McGee of A to Z Sports.

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As previously mentioned, Matt Ryan was not a rookie when he was introduced to Shanahan's offensive scheme. Ryan had already played seven NFL seasons, made two Pro Bowls, and played in five Playoff games before Shanahan arrived in Atlanta. He was well-established within the league and had already played under two different offensive coordinators. Brock Purdy had to fight for a roster spot in San Francisco and only had the habits picked up in college that Shanahan would be required to break.

A common critique — or perhaps rather, just an observation — of the Shanahan offense is that the ideal quarterback is one whose body can serve as a host for Kyle Shanahan's super-brain. If Shanahan looks at Purdy as “a clean slate” that he gets to work with, that seems to suggest that he actually views Purdy as the preferred kind of quarterback for his system. And so far the results seem to indicate that Shanahan might not be wrong.