49ers QB Brock Purdy is Alarmingly Mistake-Prone Late in Close Games

The 49ers seemingly had lots of reasons to make Brock Purdy the seventh-highest-paid player in the NFL.

He has the highest quarterback rating and yards-per-attempt average of any NFL quarterback ever. Granted, his career has been relatively short. Still, those are impressive numbers.

However, some of his numbers, particularly late in close games, have been terrible according to CBS Sports.

"He has nine touchdown passes and 15 interceptions in his career when tied or trailing in the second half and overtime, compared with 61 touchdown passes and 13 interceptions in all other situations," writes CBS Sports' Douglas Clawson. "That amounts to the worst touchdown-to-interception ratio and highest interception rate among 28 quarterbacks with 280+ attempts in those late, close situations since he entered the league in 2022. Dead last.

"That is not going to cut it for a quarterback making over $50 million per year on a team some would still consider Super Bowl contenders. He is second in the NFL in yards per dropback in those spots and just below average in overall efficiency (as measured by EPA per play) but the amount of mistakes he's made is just bad.

"Purdy finished the season with a whimper, too. He made a crippling turnover in the clutch in each of his final three games of the season. He was actually the first player in 18 years with an interception in three straight games on potential game-tying or go-ahead drives in the fourth quarter or overtime."

I'm sure the 49ers knew all these statistics. And yet, they extended Purdy anyway. Which means they might not blame him for his late-game meltdowns. Perhaps they blame head coach Kyle Shanahan, who has a bad track record in close games no matter who his quarterback is.

Either way, the 49ers will be playing in lots of close games as long as Purdy is getting paid more than $50 million per season. Someone better step up.