49ers QB Brock Purdy Keeps Silencing Critics With Winning, Production, and Proof

Recently, Wayne "Breezy" Brown wrote a brief but excellent article on why this coming season is an important one for San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy. Brown identifies the myriad accomplishments Brock has and lists the naysayers' accusations for why Brock is not a top quarterback.

Here is a look at those claims.

It's Kyle Shanahan's system

No one doubts head coach Kyle Shanahan is an offensive mastermind. His reputation is as one of the best in the league—maybe the best.

However, in 2010 in Washington, with Donovan McNabb at quarterback, the then-Redskin offense was 25th in the league in points scored. The next year, 26th. The quarterback was Rex Grossman. Of course, with only Rex Grossman, what would you ... no, the system takes care of everything, right? Besides, Grossman had been to the Super Bowl.

In fact, it wasn't until 2012 that Washington's offense, with young Offensive Rookie of the Year quarterback Robert Griffin III (and Kirk Cousins as his backup), was in the top 10. And when Griffin got hurt at the end of the season and was a shell of himself the following year, the offense dropped to 23rd.

The Shanahan system has been much the same since his first offensive coordinator gig in 2008 with the Houston Texans. When he got to San Francisco, the offense struggled until general manager John Lynch traded for quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo, and the unit surged to second in the league. When Jimmy G got hurt at the start of the next season, it regressed to 21st.

The following year, when Garoppolo took over for Trey Lance and then Purdy took over for Garoppolo, the offense rose to sixth. But here's the thing. In the games Purdy played, the offense averaged—averaged—32.8 points per game for the remainder of the season. That would have led the league.

In the NFC Championship game, Purdy went down early with an injury, and the offense collapsed.

Maybe the quarterback matters.

It's the weapons

In 2002, a quarterback in his fifth season passed for 4,200 yards and threw 27 touchdowns against 19 interceptions. His wide receivers were a future Hall of Famer and a future Hall of Fame nominee, and his running back was a future Hall of Famer. His team lost in the Wild Card round. He made the Pro Bowl.

In his first full season, Brock Purdy passed for 4,280 yards and threw 31 touchdowns to 11 interceptions. The 49ers lost in the Super Bowl.

The first was Peyton Manning. No one claimed his numbers were inflated due to his surrounding cast.

Brock Purdy's numbers were better.

Maybe the quarterback makes those around him better.

Evidence

Whenever I hear someone claim that Purdy relies on everyone else, that he is not athletic, and it could not be him driving the team, I wonder if those making those assertions have ever watched him play.

For instance, in this play, it was clearly the weapons and the system that led to the touchdown throw. And in the dramatic comeback against the Lions in the playoffs, it couldn't have been Purdy's scrambling that led to the win. After all, it's important to give receivers credit for a win when they can't get open.

It's easy to play quarterback there

Earlier this offseason, new 49ers cornerback Jack Jones stated, agreeing with former NFL quarterback Cam Newton's claims, "You can make quarterback easy to play, and I think that was Cam Newton's argument about Brock Purdy. They was making quarterback easy for him to play. You can hand the ball off 20 times to Christian McCaffrey, and then dump it off 10 times to Christian McCaffrey, and then dump it off 10 more times to George Kittle. So now, it's like, 'Wow, he has these crazy stats,' but he haven't did anything."

I hate ignorance.

I especially hate ignorance when a person makes bold accusations with the facts wrong.

The actual fact is that Purdy led the league in air yards per attempt in 2023. The fact is, last year, with his best receiver, Brandon Aiyuk, gone for the season, George Kittle out for nearly a third of the season, and the number-two wide receiver, Ricky Pearsall, out for over half the season, Purdy was still top 10 in average yards per attempt.

Purdy pushes the ball downfield. The 49ers threw more than they ran. McCaffrey averaged under four yards per carry—not a big help to a quarterback. McCaffrey averaged six catches per game, not ten. Kittle averaged five, not ten.

And as far as making it easy goes, Atlantic Falcons League MVP quarterback Matt Ryan said it took him a full year to understand Shanahan's system. Purdy had it mastered halfway through his rookie season.

Brown also posits, and I agree, that Purdy's draft slot has led to much of the criticism. Some might point to all-time great Tom Brady as evidence against that since he was a sixth-round pick, but there are a few important differences. The sixth round might be late, but it does not have the dismissive adjective "irrelevant" attached to it. Tom Brady is 6'5", the height of the perfect quarterback. He started for the University of Michigan, a big-time program that had won the national title just a few years before. In other words, he was set up to be valued if he succeeded in the pros.

Purdy, on the other hand, is 6'1" and went to Iowa State, a school not given much national attention. However, before Purdy got to ISU, they had had seven losing seasons in a row. Brock started as a freshman and put an end to that, leading them to winning records in both the conference and overall for all four of his years. They went to a bowl game every year and had a top-10 ranking. After Purdy graduated, they dropped to 4-8 (1-8 in the conference).

To qualify for many statistical categories, there are minimum requirements. For career winning percentage, it is 50 games. Purdy has played in 49. But with one game shy of qualifying, he stands at .673. That would be fourth among active players and thirteenth all-time.

He hasn't always had the scheme. He hasn't always been surrounded by talent. There has been one constant. Brock Purdy is a winner. He makes whatever team he is on click. He makes the players around him better. Give him his due.