The San Francisco 49ers don't think that Brock Purdy is Mr. Irrelevant. Purdy was the last pick of the draft in 2022 but had a huge breakout season in 2023. He led the 49ers to a Super Bowl berth and went toe-to-toe with the Chiefs, narrowly losing 25-22 in overtime. The 49ers know they have a franchise QB in Purdy, but NFL personnel don't seem to agree.
ESPN's Jeremy Fowler recently polled a number of NFL personnel, including executives, coaches, and scouts. He used this information to construct a top 10 list of NFL QBs ahead of the 2024 NFL season.
Fowler teased on X/Twitter that one of Dak Prescott or Brock Purdy would fall outside of the top 10 in this year's ranking. Unfortunately, Purdy was the one who took a tumble.
“It's hard to call him top 10 based on the guys ahead of him, but it's hard to keep him out of the top 10, too,” an NFC executive said. “He willed that team to the Super Bowl. Only right to give him serious consideration.”
Purdy has some insane stats after only two seasons in the NFL, during only one of which he was the full-time starter. He logged 4,280 passing yards for 31 touchdowns and 11 interceptions this season. Purdy has already won four playoff games in his young career as well.
Ultimately, it seems that Purdy may have tumbled down the rankings because he is viewed as a “system quarterback” within Kyle Shanahan's elite offensive scheme.
“He's very good at navigating the pocket, buying time, using his legs — you're not going to win because of him in most cases,” a separate NFC exec said. “He's a really good system quarterback.”
That does not seem fair to Brock Purdy. Hopefully he will use this ranking as bulletin board material and come back with an even better season in 2024.
49ers QB Brock Purdy gets real on how this offseason feels ‘different'
Brock Purdy is locked in this offseason.
This year's offseason will actually be Purdy's first full offseason of his NFL career. His rookie year does not count because he joined the team after the NFL Draft. Last offseason Purdy was dealing with an injury that kept him out for a significant amount of time.
Purdy spoke with ESPN's Nick Wagoner a few weeks ago and said that it feels “nice” to be able to focus on football instead of rehabbing.
“For me it was like, this is going to be a different kind of offseason,” Purdy said. “It's nice that I don't have to be on this schedule and regime of rehab, rehab, rehab, get healthy and sort of stress about am I going to make it back for the season or not. We sort of just have an offseason to breathe and reflect on really the last two years because it's been go, go, go. For me it's been really good, just mentally and sort of having that hunger to come back and be ready to roll.”
Head coach Kyle Shanahan says that the changes are already apparent.
“He is definitely ahead of where he was last year this time,” Shanahan said. “It's been awesome for him to lead us through the whole offseason, just drill wise and everything. It's been great to have [him] for a first full offseason.”
We can't wait to see the 49ers hit the field later this fall.
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