A lot can be said about Draymond Green, but he is one person you want in your corner as a hype man. After the Golden State Warriors earned a home win against the Philadelphia 76ers, the four-time champion showed some support for a local sports hero who has been under the microscope all seasonlong.
“There's been a lot of Brock Purdy slander over the last couple years,” Green said, via ClutchPoints (originally Warriors on NBCS). “I saw Stephen A. Smith said, ‘If he shows up in the Super Bowl, no more questions about Purdy!' I know better than that because he can show up in the Super Bowl and if he starts off the season bad, they're going to be like ‘he's a game manager.”‘
Green nicely sums up the plight facing the young San Francisco 49ers quarterback, but it might go even further. The bar has been raised much higher for Mr. Irrelevant due to the wealth of talent surrounding him. If San Fran overpowers the reigning champion Kansas City Chiefs, many will credit that aforementioned star power and the offensive ingenuity of head coach Kyle Shanahan.
Will 49ers' Brock Purdy be fully embraced if he wins Super Bowl 58 MVP?
Purdy has already accomplished a great deal this year and deserves a spotlight that doesn't come with skepticism and a litany of criticisms. How a player performs in the critical moments often supersedes the past blunders, but the 24-year-old is not being universally crowned Captain Clutch. Not yet, anyways.
Like Draymond Green says, some fans will always be ready with their pitchforks in hand to jump on a player the moment he takes a step back. Though, Brock Purdy will be immortalized in NFL history if he snatches the Lombardi Trophy from the grasp of Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs.
He should take pride in the fact that a decorated athlete believes in him. Green knows the struggles and joys that go with winning a championship, and in less than two weeks, Purdy might too.