It's unbelievable that the San Francisco 49ers remain legit Super Bowl contenders after losing two starting quarterbacks this season. A relatively unknown Brock Purdy, QB3 on the Week 1 depth chart, is the starting quarterback for the remainder of the season, and no one is counting out the 49ers because of it. That includes NFL Media's Daniel Jeremiah.
The 49ers selected Purdy out of Iowa State with the No. 262 overall pick, the last in the draft. But it wasn't just NFL teams that overlooked Purdy. Jeremiah, a draft analyst, admits that he had to scroll pretty far down his notes to find the rookie quarterback when looking back at his 2022 pre-draft evaluations.
Once he finally found them, here is what he thought about the Purdy.
"I look at my notes on him; he's tough, he's competitive, he's accurate," Jeremiah told Rich Eisen on Monday. "Those are the things that you like about him. I thought that the skill set, the tools were very average. He didn't have a big arm. He's not a huge athlete. He's not a big guy. He's under 6-1.
"I think it was like 19 touchdowns, eight picks (during his senior year). Even statistically, it didn't blow you away. But he started over 40 games, he was tough, and he was accurate. And when you look at what Shanahan is asking him to do ... It's just identify where the guy is and just get the ball out to him. Make it really easy. And he's done that, and he's playing at a high level."
Jeremiah adds that it helps that the 49ers are loaded with talent. The team owns the top-ranked defense in the NFL and has playmakers at every skill position on offense. That's why San Francisco remains a contender even without Trey Lance or Jimmy Garoppolo.
"What can Jimmy Garoppolo do that got [the 49ers] to a Super Bowl and almost won a Super Bowl that Brock Purdy can't do?" Jeremiah asked. "I don't think there is anything that he can't do that Jimmy does. That's why they're a legitimate Super Bowl contender."
Jeremiah did want to clarify one thing. The 49ers are Super Bowl contenders with Purdy at quarterback but aren't Super Bowl contenders because of Purdy.
"I do think there's people that go too far and think that Brock Purdy is leading the 49ers," Jeremiah explained. "We talk about, on our podcast, we talk about trucks and trailers. There's the truck quarterbacks, the [Patrick] Mahomes, the Josh Allens; those are pulling the team. Then there's the trailer quarterbacks, where they've got everything in front of them, they've got the roster, and they can go along for the ride.
"Purdy's along for the ride. Let's not get it twisted [that] he's leading this team, but he's good enough."