Ex NFL Coach's Brock Purdy Take Reveals One Major Niners Question

The rookie led the Niners to wins in eight of their final nine games that season and to an NFC Championship Game appearance. Purdy's success proved no fluke in the following season, bringing the Niners back to that same game where they broke through and reached the Super Bowl. 

While Purdy and the Niners regressed this season, several factors played into their demise from the start. Injuries across the roster to key players crippled their postseason aspirations, leaving them short of the conference championship game for the first time in three seasons. 

That all leads into the current offseason where the Niners are tasked with making a commitment to Purdy for the long haul. While some fans may debate the validity of the decision, former NFL head coach Jon Gruden has no doubt that Purdy deserves his compensation. 

"Well they should build a statue of him in San Francisco," he said. "He covered their [expletive], man. They [49ers] gave up three first round draft choices to get a guy [Trey Lance] that they got rid of.

"This guy's the last pick in the draft, he's taken you to the Super Bowl, he's taken them to the brink," Gruden said. "He deserves to get paid and I'll just leave it at that."

The two sides reportedly want to work to get a deal done, but the longevity and dollar amount on the deal will be the big questions. But Gruden's advocation for Purdy brings up one major question in regard to how those two items are determined: do the Niners owe Purdy?

Purdy saved the franchise from what was an apparent whiff on Lance in the first round. When looking at the alternative future he has presented, it is perfectly clear the Niners stumbled into a significant win with the last pick in the 2022 draft. 

But the "why" for Purdy goes beyond the shortcomings of another player. He has shown he can make San Francisco a winner. All the while, the Dallas Cowboys made Dak Prescott the highest-paid quarterback in league history without having reached a conference championship. 

The circumstances are different in both situations of course, but such deals are not just born out of accomplishments. They come from the difficulty in the modern NFL to find a worthy franchise quarterback. 

Purdy has proven himself enough to be just that and therefore warrants a significant financial commitment.