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Kyle Shanahan has no doubt that 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy has what it takes to succeed in the NFL.
In his words, the former seventh-round pick is “the real deal.”
Shanahan sat down with Greg Papa on NBC Sports Bay Area’s “49ers Game Plan” where he explained why he gave Purdy such high praise during training camp after the 23-year-old took over as QB1 for eight games in 2022 Before suffering a stroke, he suffered a torn UCL in his throwing arm in the 49ers’ NFC Championship Game loss to the Philadelphia Eagles.
“I’m just answering a question in the media, and I think that sounds like a big statement,” Shanahan told Papa. “The ‘real deal’ means people would ask me how we know all this. There were six films about him that you simply have to watch. And it wasn’t like he just got lucky in those games, he played at an extremely high level and so he’s in training every day.
“So we had a feeling in practice, but you don’t know until you play in NFL games. Our quarterbacks suffered two serious injuries and he got the opportunity to get into real games and all he did was do it against each other in every single game. “Very good competition.”
Despite only playing in a handful of games last season, he believes Purdy did enough to earn the NFL’s respect.
“He did it and got us into the playoffs, he did it on the fly in the middle of a game, he did it in playoff games, he did it at home, he did it on the road,” Shanahan explained. “I don’t know what else people want. You have to prove yourself every week in this league, it’s what you’re doing now that matters, not what you’ve done in the past. Brock played at a high level last year, that’s what we wanted. “To get him healthy, he did it in Week 1 and we’re hoping we can keep it up.”
After undergoing surgery to repair his UCL on March 10, Purdy returned to 49ers practice exactly six months later and didn’t seem to miss a step.
The second-year quarterback then picked up right where he left off in the 49ers’ 30-7 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 1 and is starting to turn heads again.
Of course, Shanahan is a little surprised.
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