Brock Purdy has gone from Mr. Irrelevant to an MVP favorite in less than two years. The San Francisco 49ers quarterback is proving that he’s the real deal with every win this year, especially the 42-19 victory in Philadelphia last Sunday.
NFL Insider Brian Baldinger joined “The Morning Roast with Bonta & Shasky" in studio and explained what makes Purdy so special.
“He’s just basically your average guy that’s great at playing quarterback. That’s Brock Purdy,” Baldinger said. “He’s just your regular guy, looks like a regular guy. You shake his hand, you talk to him.”
Purdy has been unflappable since being thrust into the starting role just over one year ago.
“Last time I saw him before the Tampa game he was talking about an ice cream parlor in Ames, Iowa,” Baldinger continued. “If you try to do that to Peyton or Drew Brees or Brady before a game somebody would chew your arm off. You can’t do that. They’re locked in.
“This guy is so confident that honestly, I don’t think anything could knock him off.”
Baldinger recalled last month’s touchdown pass to George Kittle in which Purdy pump faked to Brandon Aiyuk before hitting the tight end for a 66-yard score.
While some may have thought that was at least somewhat by design with the routes, Baldinger gave the praise to the quarterback.
“That was just him,” he said. “That was him going ‘I can really get this safety to bite.’ That was all him.”
Purdy has silenced some of his critics this season but there are still some whispers about him being a “system quarterback” thriving in Kyle Shanahan’s offense. Baldinger pointed out that every quarterback is in a particular system and Purdy has the skills that some other signal callers don’t.
“There are certain cliches that just get tossed around… I hear people saying ‘If you put Mac Jones in this system he’d be successful.’ Alright, I don’t believe you,” Baldinger said. “Because I don’t think he sees the field the way Brock Purdy sees the field. And I don’t think he can get from his second read to his third read the way Brock Purdy does. He’s reading this stuff on his second step.”
The seventh-round pick waited until the final pick of the draft to hear his name called, but he doesn’t wait to go through his options. Purdy is able to thrive with the weapons around him due to his innate ability to read the field and quickly run through his options under center.
Purdy isn’t just a system quarterback. He may not have the physical capabilities of some of the other stars in this league but he has what it takes to be mentioned among them.