Steve Young wants to see San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy run with the ball more this upcoming season.
Brock Purdy and the San Francisco 49ers are currently gearing up to take part in the 2024-25 NFL season, which will begin for them in September with a game vs the New York Jets. The 49ers of course are coming off of a heartbreaking defeat in the Super Bowl vs the Kansas City Chiefs, but Purdy was still able to silence most of his doubters throughout last season in leading his team to the game's biggest stage.
Despite that, there are still some obvious areas for the former last pick in the draft to improve, and recently, 49ers legendary quarterback Steve Young shared some of his wisdom for the youngster.
“He’s going to have to have his nifty feet help him out a little bit.”
“There are free yards in today’s wide-open game,” Young said, per Matt Maiocco of NBC Sports Bay Area. “It’s a different game than 20 years ago. And guys can go get them (yards) with his legs in key moments. He needs to think about spitting out 50, 60 yards a game with his legs.”
Young referenced the fact that Purdy seems to have some self awareness about what he can and cannot do out on the field.
“Look, Brock knows he’s not that guy,” Young said. “But he can be a threat. And I think that threat needs to come out more this year.”
Can the 49ers finally break through?
The 49ers have been knocking on the door of NFL immortality for quite some time now, losing twice to the Chiefs in the Super Bowl over the last five years and having some other near misses in the playoffs as well.
Purdy has long been criticized as not having the talent as a quarterback to lead a team to the Super Bowl, but he proved he is capable of at least holding his own on the game's biggest stage with his performance against the Chiefs, where he wasn't excellent but wasn't bad and gave his team a chance to win the game.
Still, as Young mentioned in his analysis, there is a lot of room to improve for Purdy, including in the running game, which would open up a whole new dimension for a San Francisco offense that is brimming with star positional talent (although whether Brandon Aiyuk will still be a part of that equation moving forward remains to be seen).
In any case, the Jets vs 49ers game to open up the season is set to take place on September 10 for Monday Night Football.
