Those running the San Francisco 49ers made their feelings about quarterback Brock Purdy quite clear when they signed him to a five-year, $265M contract extension that included $181M in guarantees and a no-trade clause this past spring.
During a recent chat with Cam Inman of the Bay Area News Group, 49ers legend and Hall of Famer Joe Montana endorsed the club making Purdy one of the NFL's highest-paid quarterbacks ahead of the 2025 campaign.
"He plays within himself," Montana said about Purdy. "Usually, you see in the second year — which he didn’t really do much — is try so much to be better and, 'Oh, I can do this now.' You see a lot of that from the first-year wonders, and you think, what are they going to do next year, and they think they can do everything. He played within himself and did what he’s supposed to."
The 49ers famously made Purdy the final pick of the 2022 NFL Draft, and he won his first seven starts as a rookie (including the playoffs) before he suffered a torn ulnar collateral ligament in the NFC Championship Game in January 2023. He recovered from that setback in time to begin the subsequent campaign as San Francisco's QB1, and he then became a finalist for the 2023 MVP Award before he led the 49ers to within one play of winning the Super Bowl in February 2024.
Despite such an impressive resume, some analysts repeatedly referred to Purdy as a "game manager" and an "overrated" quarterback before an injury crisis sank San Francisco's 2024 season. Purdy missed one game last fall because of a sore shoulder and was sidelined for the 49ers' regular-season finale due to an elbow injury.
"It’s not like he hasn’t done the job," Montana added about the 49ers paying Purdy. "He’s been fairly consistent. He had a lot of injuries. Those are all the tough to deal with."
According to Pro Football Reference, Purdy ended the 2024 regular season ranked seventh in the league among qualified players with a 67.9 adjusted QBR and fifth with 257.6 passing yards per game. Nevertheless, NFL executives, coaches and scouts surveyed by ESPN this summer did not rank Purdy among the league's top 10 players at the position.
He'll first have an opportunity to offer an on-the-field response to such takes when the Niners open the upcoming campaign with a matchup at the Seattle Seahawks on Sept 7.
