Why NFL analyst views 49ers' Brock Purdy as 'silent assassin'

NFL Network personality Brian Baldinger defended San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy amid the club's three-game losing streak this past fall and enjoyed a bit of a victory lap after Purdy guided the 49ers to a Super Bowl LVIII matchup versus the Kansas City Chiefs. 

"I don’t understand any of the criticism, I really don’t," Baldinger said about Purdy during an appearance on "The Rich Eisen Show," per Andy Lindquist of NBC Sports Bay Area. "I think the guy’s just a silent assassin. He’s so relaxed and he's so confident yet he doesn’t really relish any of the spotlight." 

Purdy completed six-of-seven passes for 47 yards while engineering a game-winning drive in San Francisco's 24-21 divisional playoff win over the Green Bay Packers on Jan. 20. More recently, the 24-year-old connected on 13-of-16 pass attempts for 174 yards and a touchdown to go along with 49 rushing yards during the second half of this past Sunday's 34-31 NFC Championship Game victory against the Detroit Lions.

Detroit entered halftime of that contest holding a 24-7 lead. 

"This guy sees the field as good as anybody in this whole business," Baldinger added. "His runs, he was channeling Steve Young the other day. I don’t think we knew he could do that, on that stage, against that [Detroit] defense, with the speed that they have. His movement is just elite. And probably the best part about him is he plays with no fear."

Baldinger also praised Purdy's ability to quickly move on from mistakes that could linger in the minds of other signal-callers. 

"I think he’s the perfect quarterback for [49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan] right now in that he can program him, he can coach him hard, if [Purdy] makes a mistake, he can get on him like he does during the week in practice, yet [Purdy] can take all of that and still go play without any sort of fear about making a mistake," Baldinger added. 

As of Wednesday afternoon, DraftKings Sportsbook listed the 49ers as two-point favorites to defeat the Chiefs in the Super Bowl. That same outlet had Kansas City quarterback Patrick Mahomes as the betting favorite at +125 odds to claim Most Valuable Player honors over Purdy (+225).