Brock Purdy is firmly entrenched as the San Francisco 49ers quarterback, but that wasn’t the case as recently as last offseason. Purdy was recovering from a torn UCL with an unclear timeline to return, especially before surgery.
That was part of the reason that head coach Kyle Shanahan wanted one final chance to bring New England Patriots legend Tom Brady to San Francisco.
Purdy told Tim Kawakami of the Audacy Sports Podcast “The TK Show” how he reacted to Shanahan telling him about the idea.
“How I took it was I understand. I was hurt and there wasn’t really a certainty as to when exactly I’d be back. Would I be back for the season? Would it be midway through the season? Who knows at that time?” Purdy said. “So I totally understood the fact of Kyle and the team needed a quarterback for next season.”
“When he said ‘Tom Brady,’ I’m like ‘Alright, that’s cool for your sake as a head coach and for a team to bring in the best of all time.’ A little bit of me was like ‘Alright, well I’d just proven that I beat this guy this past year and that I’m good enough to take our team to, at the time, it was the NFC Championship (Game).’”
The rookie started the final five games of the regular season – all victories – and helped lead the 49ers deep into the playoffs.
“So there was a little bit to me where I was like ‘I can obviously be the guy for this organization so why not?’” he continued. “But given the circumstances of me being hurt and having some certainty at quarterback, I understand why he was willing to have that as a thought. So I get it.”
While Purdy understood it, there was still the competitive side of it.
“I think we were just having an honest conversation about the whole thing. I think when he was bringing that up it was before surgery. It was before I even had surgery or anything so we had no idea what my timeline was like or anything,” he recalled. “But yeah, there was the competitive side of it for me. I was like ‘I just proved for eight, nine games that I can be the guy for this organization.’ But at the same time, I get they need a guy for next year if I wasn’t able to make it back in time.”
The fact that Shanahan suggested bringing in a legend like Brady helped soften the blow for Purdy. The head coach said he meant it as a compliment to Purdy, which is understandable, but it may not have been what the young quarterback wanted.
“He was saying ‘We bring him in and you can heal up and then learn from the best of all time and then be the guy to come in after.’ So I get the compliment of it, but at the same time it’s like ‘Man, I’m ready to play right now and help this team win right now,’” Purdy said. “There are two sides of it for sure.”
Of course, Brady didn’t end up joining the 49ers as he retired – for good this time – on February 1, 2023. And it’s safe to say that it all worked out for San Francisco as Purdy further solidified his position under center with a Super Bowl appearance last season.