Brock Purdy isn’t a first-round draft pick like Kansas City Chiefs star Patrick Mahomes, but the 49ers quarterback certainly plays like one.
Purdy has yet to lose an NFL game he has started and finished, and so far in 2023 he has the league’s best passer rating at 115.1. So why doesn’t he enjoy the same respect as his colleagues?
Hall of Fame quarterback and 49ers legend Steve Young believes it’s because Purdy, the last pick of the 2022 NFL Draft, is going against the status quo by telling scouts and general managers who betrayed him that Proves the opposite. On the field, Young believes it’s clear that Purdy has a crucial quality, just like Mahomes, that wouldn’t have emerged at the combine.
“They don’t know the position as well as they say, because the position is really about cunning and in some ways an innate gift from heaven to be able to lower the heart rate while everyone else is under fear and pressure ” said Young in an exclusive interview with NBC Bay Area’s Raj Mathai. “You just react differently – you react. And then there are 22 people on the field, including yourself, and it’s not overwhelming.”
“It’s like, ‘Oh, I get that. That’s fine. I’m not overwhelmed by it.’ And that’s a very rare trait that we look for in quarterbacks everywhere. … But in the NFL, very few are naturally at peace. And that’s why when I compare him to Patrick Mahomes, I compare him to Patrick’s feelings at peace. We all grew into it. Some people just show up. Patrick showed up in peace, and so did Brock. The draft doesn’t understand this thing.”
Young is right — Purdy’s rise has been unlikely since he took over the 49ers’ starting role from the injured Jimmy Garoppolo last season. He broke countless records during both the regular season and playoffs in 2022 thanks to Mr. Irrelevant’s milestones, with his success aided by four years as a collegiate starter at Iowa State.
And there’s no second-year slump here: Purdy’s numbers in 2023 have helped put his name in the NFL’s MVP discussion and dispelled the notion that he’s merely a benefactor of coach Kyle Shanahan’s system. But as Young said, there are still some who can’t accept the quarterback Purdy has become.
Or the quarterback he always was. However, before Purdy can truly be compared to Mahomes, he has to hoist a Vince Lombardi Trophy or two. In the meantime, the 49ers can rest assured that the young signal-caller will be calm, cool and collected on Sunday against the Dallas Cowboys.
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