San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy has already started two NFC Championship Games and a Super Bowl after he entered the NFL as the final pick of the 2022 draft.
At least one NFL scout believes Purdy is on his way to eventually being enshrined in Canton.
“I can’t say enough that Brock Purdy has so much more potential left to unlock,” that scout told Jake Rogers of the NFL Analysis Network for a piece published Thursday. “He’s already a superstar, but he’s nowhere close to his ceiling. If he ends up reaching his ceiling, Hall of Fame is the least of the accolades that he has the talent and ability to achieve.”
Purdy famously won his first seven starts as a rookie until he suffered a torn ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow during San Francisco’s NFC Championship loss to the Philadelphia Eagles in January 2023. The 24-year-old recovered in time to start in Week 1 this past September, and he ultimately became a finalist for Most Valuable Player in his first campaign as a full-time QB1.
According to ESPN stats, Purdy ended the 2023 regular season leading the league among qualified players with a 72.8 adjusted QBR, a 113.0 passer rating and an average of 9.6 yards per pass attempt. He was third with 31 touchdown passes, fifth with 4,280 passing yards and fourth with a 69.4 percent completion percentage.
“At just 24 years of age, Brock Purdy is playing with a football IQ well beyond his years,” Rogers added following his chat with the scout. “He’s a top-notch leader as well and his teammates love playing for him. That is a quality that is impossible to teach.”
Much was made from this past fall through Super Bowl LVIII about Purdy allegedly being little more than a “game manager” who has been surrounded by elite offensive weapons and who is lucky to play for a top-tier head coach (Kyle Shanahan). As of Thursday afternoon, DraftKings Sportsbook listed Purdy tied for sixth among the betting favorites at +1200 odds to earn MVP honors for the upcoming season.
To his credit, Purdy was one San Francisco defensive stop away from hoisting the Vince Lombardi Trophy in February. If he improves for a second consecutive season and before he celebrates his 25th birthday this coming December, he could at the very least permanently silence the “game manager” takes that still hover over his status today.
