Michael Irvin on 49ers QB Brock Purdy: “Why wasn’t it like this with Trey Lance?”

Rookie quarterback Brock Purdy has been impressive in the last four games for the San Francisco 49ers. The team lost Jimmy Garoppolo—after losing Trey Lance early in the season—and hasn't missed a beat with the seventh-round draft pick at the helm of Kyle Shanahan's offense. Purdy's not just a seventh-rounder but the last overall pick in this year's draft.

The 49ers have now won eight consecutive games and look to keep the streak going on New Year's Day against the Las Vegas Raiders. NFL analyst Michael Irvin has been impressed with Purdy. While Irvin believes that Shanahan has created a quarterback-friendly system, it doesn't necessarily take anything away from what the rookie has accomplished over the past four games.

"You can be as quarterback-friendly as you want to be," Irvin noted during an interview on 95.7 The Game. "We still saw some hiccups and some hitches in Trey Lance's development. You see what I'm saying? And more than we're seeing right here with Brock Purdy. That's all I'm saying.

"We can't go about stealing his credit and what he has done because we want to raise up the defense, or we don't want to give him all of his credit, and we're taking it away. 'He's just got to don't mess it up.' And it's, 'No, he's making plays, and there's a difference between the two.'"

Fans might be interested in hearing the comparison to Lance, the second-year quarterback for which the 49ers surrendered a hefty amount of draft capital last year, selecting him with the No. 3 overall pick.

Zach Wilson's name was also brought up. The Jets selected Wilson one spot ahead of the 49ers, and the second-year quarterback may have already played his way out of New York.

"It's about getting in and out of that huddle," Irvin said. "It's about leadership. It's about control. It's about the people. You've got grown-ass men in that huddle. If you ain't got some kind of something to lead them men, trust me, that's going to be an issue.

"Now what you have to start thinking about is, 'Hmm, why didn't it look like this with Trey Lance right away?' ... Those are the thoughts that you'll be thinking about as you move forward because it looks great with Brock Purdy."

It's worth noting that Brock Purdy started 46 games at Iowa State (8 in 2018, 13 in 2019, 12 in 2020, 13 in 2021). Trey Lance started 17 (16 in 2019, 1 in 2020) at North Dakota State. Even adding Lance's four starts and Purdy's three starts with the 49ers—shoot, we'll even throw in his Week 13 game against the Miami Dolphins, which he played most of but did not start—Purdy has well over twice the starting experience compared to Lance.

"It blows my mind when you have the [third] pick in the draft, and now you're coming back with the last pick in the draft, and you can sit there and look at it and say, 'Hmm, let's look at this, and let's look at the development. Let's look at who's picking this up faster.' And right now—and I saw a lot of high-ceiling for Trey Lance—but right now, if we say, 'You all measure the two times that these two kids have played,' you've got to say Brock Purdy is winning."

The real question is, Which quarterback has the higher ceiling? What can Lance become with more experience under his belt? That will be a topic of discussion inside the 49ers' building after the season.

"It's going to be a hell of a call," Irvin said. "Because you have to see some serious upside on Trey Lance, and we know he has some upside. But this kid right here, he's also closer to his floor than he is to his ceiling. So where is his ceiling if his floor looks like this? You would want to explore that too."