The 49ers seem to have decided that Brock Purdy is their franchise quarterback.
The 49ers seem to have decided that Brock Purdy is their franchise quarterback.
To Purdy’s credit, he went to the Super Bowl in his first full season as an NFL starting quarterback, but so did Jimmy Garoppolo. In the Super Bowl against the Chiefs, Purdy led the 49ers to 19 points in regulation and lost, similar to Garoppolo, who led the 49ers to 20 points and lost to the same team. Then, after losing the Super Bowl, both Purdy and Garoppolo had major down seasons.
We know what happened next to Garoppolo. He slowly regressed until he lost his starting job, and now he’s the backup for the Rams. Could Purdy suffer a similar fate, or will he bounce back and lead the 49ers to their first Super Bowl victory since 1995?
“Brock is the leader of our team,” Kyle Shanahan said on Wednesday. “I’ve loved these three years with Brock. I plan on being with Brock here the whole time I’m here. So, Brock’s been a stud. He’s a guy I’ve got a lot of confidence in just as a human, but it starts with what he’s done in the field these last two and a half years and capable of winning a Super Bowl with him. We just almost did. And I know he is capable of getting the Niners a Super Bowl in the future.”
With all due respect to Shanahan, allow me to retort.
Purdy lost in the Super Bowl while playing on one of the best rosters in franchise history. The 49ers won’t be able to accumulate that many talented players in their primes in the future while Purdy is making $60 million per season. Instead, he’ll have to put the team on his back and carry it to a Super Bowl victory, and we learned this year that he can’t do that. With Christian McCaffrey missing all but four games, Purdy had a chance to be the man, and he lost all but one close game he was in.
To be frank. he played like Jimmy Garoppolo.