It’s not uncommon to be a polarizing figure when you wear a San Francisco 49ers uniform. Everyone had an opinion on Joe Montana and Steve Young and there was no middle ground, they were either great or overrated. Brock Purdy can now join that heady company, thanks to a recent survey done by ESPN of 103 NFL players about the league’s QBs.
Among the questions asked were who the most overrated and underrated QBs are in the NFL. Purdy got six votes for most overrated QB, and placed tied for first with 14 votes as the most underrated QB.
So, Is Purdy Underrated, Overrated, Or Neither?
Let’s get the easy one out of the way. In no universe is Purdy overrated. He’s had a fantastic start to his career, but nobody is claiming that he’s the second coming of football Jesus. Fans and bloggers alike are excited, they’re rightly expecting big things this year for the 49ers, but they also understand that this is his third year (and only his second full season as a starter) and he’s still learning.
As of publishing, Purdy has the 8th-shortest odds (+1600, via FanDuel) to win the 2025 NFL MVP, behind the following QBs:
- Patrick Mahomes (+450)
- Josh Allen (+800)
- C.J. Stroud (+1000)
- Joe Burrow (+1000)
- Jalen Hurts (+1400)
- Jordan Love (+1400)
- Lamar Jackson (+1500)
You could make a case that you’d take Purdy over a few of those guys, but he belongs in the bottom tier of that group, so underrated doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, either. Purdy is coming off of a spectacular season in which he completed 69.4% of his passes for 4,280 yards, 31 TDs and 11 INTs. He went 12-4 in the regular season, gave his team the lead with 1:53 left in the Super Bowl, led the NFL in TD%, yards per attempt, yards per catch, passer rating, QBR and net yards per attempt, while finishing 4th in the MVP voting. For now, he’s properly rated. A Super Bowl win this season, and he knocks about five guys down that list.
What Should We Expect This Season?
There are rumblings around the league that the Brandon Aiyuk saga is affecting Purdy, specifically causing Purdy to take more chances and result in more interceptions this preseason.
Charles Robinson at Yahoo! Sports wrote, “Clearly, Purdy was taking a lot of chances in practice this preseason — including risks that he’s far less likely to take once the season kicks off. But it also seemed to lead to some less than stellar performances in his two brief preseason outings, including the exhibition finale against the Las Vegas Raiders that saw Purdy throw an interception.”
But, it’s not all it’s cracked up to be. In fact, I see it as a sign of maturity. The preseason is a tune-up of sorts, but it’s also a sandbox, especially for a team that doesn’t know what the offense is going to look like in Week 1. Purdy is preparing himself for whatever situation he’s going to find himself in, and in this writer’s eyes, that’s a sign of a player more concerned with winning than with aesthetics. That’s a Super Bowl Champion’s quality.
