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49ers legend draws comparison between Brock Purdy and Joe Montana
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49ers legend draws comparison between Brock Purdy and Joe Montana

Originally posted on 49ers Webzone  |  By David Bonilla  |  Last updated Jul 8, 2025 5:11 PM ET

Drawing comparisons between Brock Purdy and San Francisco 49ers icon Joe Montana might seem premature, especially with Purdy just entering his fourth NFL season. But when that comparison comes from another 49ers legend, it carries more weight.

Former tight end Brent Jones recently joined Guy Haberman for an interview and shared that he sees some striking similarities between Purdy and Montana. This offseason, Purdy solidified his role as the face of the franchise by signing a five-year, $265 million contract extension.

Like Montana, Purdy lacks the prototypical physical tools often associated with elite NFL quarterbacks, like arm strength and mobility. Yet that hasn't stopped him from achieving early success. In just two seasons, Purdy has led the 49ers to back-to-back NFC Championship Games and a Super Bowl appearance.

"Joe Montana was, in my mind, the greatest processor that I've ever seen," Jones told Haberman. "He knew where he was going to go with the ball. And it could be the fifth read on a play, but he knew instantaneously that it was going to that guy just because of the way the defense ended up moving or checking or bouncing. He'd read it immediately, no matter what, and he knew where he was going with the ball a majority of the time."

Jones said he sees that same lightning-fast processing ability in Purdy.

"What I started to see early on in Brock's career was, man, he processes fast, and gets rid of the ball, and is accurate, and a lot of times, hits the open man," Jones shared. "And I think it's been fantastic to watch him."

Jones also noted that Purdy faced more challenges in 2024 due to key injuries across the offense. With several top weapons sidelined, Purdy was pressured more often and forced to take more risks.

"And so, he was going for it," Jones said. "And we had a band of injuries at receiver. We had different guys in there. We had new guys. And sometimes ... the interception is 100% on the receiver, but Brock Purdy is never going to be the guy where you think that it was the receiver, because he's never going to point or pout or throw his arms up in the air or do things that other quarterbacks do sometimes to make sure everybody knows it's not on them. And so, he's that kind of a teammate."

Despite the 49ers' struggles last season on the way to a 6-11 record, Jones remained impressed by Purdy's performance and his competitive fire.

"You don't have to have the strongest arm in the NFL, and his arm is plenty strong," Jones added. "But Joe wasn't [John] Elway or Jim Kelly or Dan Marino [when it came to arm strength], but he's the one with all the Super Bowl rings. And it's because his anticipation and his accuracy and his ability to read the defenses were unlike anybody that I've ever seen.

"And so, I think Brock has a lot of those characteristics, and I'm excited to see him with a full group of healthy players—and especially ... everything changes with [Christian] McCaffrey back as your running back, not only running the ball, but coming out of the backfield. To have him not there [last season] was a big miss, too, for Brock."

H/t to Nick San Miguel of Niner Noise for the find.

This article first appeared on 49ers Webzone and was syndicated with permission.

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