San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy posted MVP-caliber numbers through the air this season, but no one will confuse him for Lamar Jackson—or even Daniel Jones, for that matter—as a rusher.
Purdy carried the ball 39 times for 144 yards and a couple of touchdowns this past year, good for a meager average of 3.7 yards per attempt.
However, during the playoffs, Purdy ran 14 times for 74 yards, which comes out to 5.3 yards per tote.
Legendary 49ers quarterback Steve Young would like to see Purdy dedicate more time to becoming a dual threat and had some rather strong words for the young signal-caller on his Steve Young Show.
“He (Purdy) told you after the NFC Championship Game, ‘I’m not the biggest, I’m not the fastest, I’m not the strongest,’” Young said. “So what he’s saying is, ‘I’m going to do it my own way. And I’m going to do it mostly retail.’ In other words, ‘Give me a great play. Give me some great players. And I will light you up.’ Right? … A big, huge bulk of the game is doing what I just described, which is his superpower.”
If any quarterback would know about running with the football, it’s Young, who racked up 4,239 rushing yards during his illustrious NFL career.
“But there’s a big part of the game where he’s going to have to figure out how to match,” Young continued. “If we’re talking about Super Bowls. If we’re talking about championship football. If we’re talking about January and February football. He’s going to have to figure out — and Kyle [Shanahan]’s going to have to figure out — how to make him the 11th guy out of the huddle.”
Young won a Super Bowl as San Francisco’s starting quarterback during the 1994-95 campaign and made seven Pro Bowls while earning three First-Team All-Pro selections, so he knows a thing or two about how to win in this league.
Purdy seems like the type of player to gladly accept constructive criticism, so we will see if he takes Young’s advice to heart going into 2024.
Of course, whether or not Brock Purdy actually has the capability to become a legitimate dual threat is another story entirely.
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