Ever since he took over the San Francisco 49ers’ starting quarterback spot late last season, Brock Purdy has mostly played brilliant football. However, even now that he has essentially a full season of NFL experience under his belt (he has started 15 games and played the majority of the snaps in 16 games), he still has many critics and doubters.
Those critics and doubters dismiss what he has done by saying he is merely a “system quarterback” who has benefitted from head coach Kyle Shanahan’s quarterback-friendly offense. They also say Purdy is only putting up good numbers because he has arguably the best running back in Christian McCaffrey, two stud wide receivers in Brandon Aiyuk and Deebo Samuel, an excellent tight end in George Kittle and arguably the game’s best left tackle in Trent Williams by his side.
But through 10 games, Purdy is leading the league with a 115.1 passer rating. In fact, he also leads everyone in QBR, pass completion percentage and several other key categories.
One claim made by Purdy’s critics is that in San Francisco’s offense, he mostly plays conservatively and chiefly makes short-to-intermediate range throws. Yet Purdy is the leader in yards per pass attempt. On top of that, he’s sixth in passing yards and tied for seventh in passing touchdowns.
In Sunday’s 27-14 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, he achieved a perfect passer rating of 158.3 by completing 21 of 25 passes and throwing three touchdown passes. He failed to throw an interception, even though the Buccaneers rank eighth in forced turnovers.
Not too shabby for someone who was the “Mr. Irrelevant” of the 2022 NFL Draft and started last season third on the 49ers’ depth chart.
Among other things, Purdy has shown good mobility out of the pocket, not to mention the ability to evade pressure, readjust and still find open receivers while on the run. That is a talent that cannot really be taught, and it has helped San Francisco establish a 7-3 record while ranking eighth in passing yards and passing touchdowns, as well as fourth in scoring.
The only question remaining about Brock Purdy is perhaps how he will play under the pressure of having to overcome a deficit in the fourth quarter. But as long as that won’t be a problem for him, it looks like the 49ers’ search for a franchise quarterback that began with Steve Young‘s retirement following the 1999 season is finally over.
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