Brock Purdy is trying to make a name for himself after being “Mr. “Irrelevant” was.
But the comparisons depend on the territory. And after Purdy picked up right where he left off in the 49ers’ season-opening win over the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday, he was compared to a quarterback San Francisco knows all too well.
“We knew the 49ers [defense] was good and that they are physical. “We really didn’t know how Purdy was going to show up,” NFL Network host Kyle Brandt said on “Good Morning Football” Monday morning. “He looks like a young Russell Wilson.” Like the first few years in the league, Russell Wilson.
“Just a gamer. Mobile. He had jukes out there and he throws across his body. He looked really good.”
Comparisons are always strange. And Purdy’s small sample size (compared to Wilson’s 12-year career) makes it difficult to fully analyze.
But what the football world has seen so far from the second-year pro is nothing short of incredible. After injuries to former 49ers quarterbacks Trey Lance and Jimmy Garoppolo last season, Purdy stepped in and led the team to eight straight wins until a UCL injury derailed San Francisco’s Super Bowl aspirations.
He was just as stable and successful in his first game after surgery to repair his throwing arm. The 23-year-old threw for 220 yards with two touchdowns and zero interceptions on 19 of 29 passes in the 49ers’ 30-7 Week 1 win over the Steelers.
Of course, Wilson and Purdy have very different NFL journeys. The Seahawks selected Wilson in the third round of the 2012 NFL Draft and he started all 16 games for Seattle as a rookie. Ten years later, Purdy was the very last pick in the 2022 NFL Draft and the third-string QB behind Lance and Garoppolo before emerging as the starter.
On the field, however, some similarities between the two signal-callers are hard to miss.
Purdy’s timing, anticipation and accuracy closely resemble Wilson’s in his early years as a player. Both quarterbacks are great at sensing the coming pass rush and finding ways to escape it. While Purdy isn’t as quick as Wilson, the second-year pro has sneaky athleticism that shows flashes on the court.
Additionally, both are unlikely to panic even in the most tense situations, which is extremely important for an NFL quarterback.
Sure, Purdy doesn’t have the strongest arm in the world and certainly doesn’t have the ball of Wilson, but he’s good enough to get the job done. And it has worked perfectly so far.
It also helps when you have weapons like Christian McCaffrey, Deebo Samuel, Brandon Aiyuk and others.
Wilson, now with the Denver Broncos, is not the same player he was in his Pacific Northwest heyday. He won a Super Bowl in 2014 and gave the 49ers headaches in memorable matchups with their division rivals.
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