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While the San Francisco 49ers are currently the walking wounded, with over a dozen players on the injury report for one reason or another, Kyle Shanahan has still been afforded plenty of chances to evaluate the player he'll be going into battle with come Week 1, from rookie UDFAs just fighting for a practice squad spot to his starting quarterback extraordinaire, Brock Purdy.
Asked about what he's seen from Purdy so far this summer and how it could impact his pivotal third professional season by reporters during his Tuesday press conference, Shanahan noted he was most proud of the strides he's made as a leader, as the former Mr. Irrelevant has fully earned the respect of his peers.
“I just think when you've done what you've done on the field, it's always easier. I don't care how you are, no matter what type of leader or how you want to command or demand things from people, if you haven't had much success on the field, that doesn't last very long,” Shanahan noted.
“He did that as a rookie. But then he was so caught up just trying to come back from his injury. Now after having a second year in where he had an unbelievable year, he's in a much more natural position to do it. I think he does do it naturally. But the team, based off of what he's done, he's earned their respect on the field, and they know him as a guy inside and out, and no one respects anyone more as a person than how much they respect Brock Purdy.”
Initially drafted as the final pick in the 2022 NFL draft, Purdy began his NFL career as a third-stringer behind Trey Lance and Jimmy Garoppolo, but through luck, circumstance, and a lightning-in-a-bottle moment, he took the starting role with the 49ers and embraced it, running the other two QBs out of town on the way to an unquestioned spot at Shanahan's QB1. If he can just build on his first two seasons and round out his game this fall, who knows, maybe Purdy will be the proud owner of a massive new contract, too.
Kyle Shanahan has one area he wants to see Brock Purdy improve on
Asked by reporters if there's anything Brock Purdy can improve on heading into his third professional season later in his press conference, Kyle Shanahan identified his processing abilities, noting that as they slowly start to see the field the same way, the Iowa State product will be able to maximize the plays called for him.
“Yeah, of course. I was so excited with how he did right away. Just when we got him on the field with his few reps and then what he did in his rookie year, it was so exciting. Watching him overcome injury was unbelievable last year. He's got enough tape out there that everyone has a good grasp of what Brock is, and that's a very good quarterback. The way he's built, the way his mind works, the way he works at things, how humble he is, usually any one of those situations only gets better with reps and being in more situations,” Shanahan noted.
“Everyone wants to learn it or know it like the coach does, but the coaches only know it because we've been doing it for a long time, and we'd sit in that room in a chair and with a slow motion remote and get to go over stuff all the time. And players don't get to do that all the time. They have to go work on being an athlete and doing stuff on the field. And it's not just all the mind. They have to work on the physical aspect of the game. So, you always hope that they can count on the coach to help bridge that gap. But especially with the quarterback, it's always good to know a lot. Sometimes, knowing a lot doesn't always help; you know too many of the what-ifs. I have a scar on almost every single play; we've done it long enough. If you give the quarterback all those scars that you have as a play-caller, they might never throw the ball. ‘Watch out, this could happen, this could happen.' So it's kind of on a need-to-know basis to help them be the most successful. But the more they play, the more they learn. Because eventually, you do need to know all that stuff, and it's about how you handle it, and Brock has handled it very well.”
When it comes to playing quarterback at the NFL level in 2024, being able to quickly read a defense and react to it is just as important, if not more important, as how far a player can throw the ball, as coaches like Shanahan explicitly design their offenses to leave certain players open and set up easy YAC opportunities. Though his first two seasons in the NFL, Purdy has unquestionably proved that he can work in that system, but if he can take things a step or two further forward, the ceiling really is undefinable for the 49ers' offense moving forward.
