Former 49ers QB compares Brock Purdy to Patrick Mahomes

Retired Pro Bowl quarterback and current ESPN analyst Alex Smith recently called San Francisco 49ers signal-caller Brock Purdy "the real deal." 

During a Friday appearance on the KNBR "Murph and Markus" program, Smith doubled down on his praise of Purdy, comparing him to none other than Kansas City Chiefs superstar Patrick Mahomes. 

"These guys are just tough, do whatever it takes to win," Smith said about Purdy and Mahomes, per David Bonilla of 49ers WebZone. "They love the moment. That's what's so rare, certainly about Pat, and even Brock — that confidence. They want the ball, right? They want the ball down three in the fourth quarter with like a minute (and) 30 (seconds) left and a timeout."

As Bonilla mentioned, Smith offered his comments after Cody Benjamin of CBS Sports ranked Purdy second behind only Mahomes in quarterback power rankings for the ongoing NFL offseason. That's high praise considering Mahomes is a three-time Super Bowl champion and a three-time Super Bowl Most Valuable Player who is already a "Mount Rushmore" candidate at the age of 28. 

Purdy, meanwhile, is a one-time finalist for the regular-season MVP Award who lost to Mahomes and the Chiefs in his first Super Bowl appearance this past February. 

"They want to be in that situation, and there's not a lot of guys that want (to do that)," Smith continued while speaking about Purdy and Mahomes. "They want to take the last shot. And I think you have to have it. You have to have that kind of mentality to be an elite quarterback."

According to Pro-Football-Reference, Purdy ended this past regular season leading the NFL among qualified players with a 72.8 adjusted QBR, a 113.0 passer rating, an average of 9.6 yards gained per pass attempt and a 54.7% passing success rate. To compare, Mahomes was eighth with a 63.1 adjusted QBR, 14th with a 92.6 passer rating, 19th with an average of 7.0 yards gained per pass attempt and tied for seventh with a 48.2% passing success rate.

Of course, such stats matter little to those who will always remember that Mahomes guided the Chiefs on a Super-Bowl-winning drive in overtime against the 49ers after Purdy failed to take his offense into the end zone during the extra period.