Brock Purdy's first NFL start came against Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The rookie quarterback played most of the previous game, a San Francisco 49ers win over the Miami Dolphins, but entered the contest after Jimmy Garoppolo went down with an injury. Would Purdy show the same poise and command of the offense, handing a future first-ballot Hall of Fame quarterback a loss?
Brian Baldinger was among the many who wanted to find out. He was at the game. Before kickoff, Baldinger approached wide receiver Deebo Samuel to discuss the then-22-year-old quarterback. He wanted to go through a checklist with the star 49ers player, which looked like this.
- Can get out of harm's way
- Fearless over the middle
- Reads option routes
- Can extend plays
- Sees the whole field
Check, check, check, check, and check. Purdy checked all the boxes in Samuel's mind. That's pretty impressive for a rookie quarterback who was the last overall pick in the 2022 draft. However, there is more that has contributed to Purdy's success.
"Really, what it comes down to is just his eyes and how he sees the game," NFL analyst Brian Baldinger told Al Sacco, Zain Naqvi, and Brian Renick of the 49ers Webzone No Huddle Podcast. "It's hard to evaluate that until a guy is playing. So I think his eyes are awesome. He sees it all.
"And then, secondly, he just has a pocket awareness about him. I don't know if you can teach it. Every single quarterback has guys in practice go around the dummies, and throwing dummies at you, poking you with a stick, and all these things. But he actually plays like that, and he plays with a calmness that you only hope anybody can play with.
"So you don't see the rookie stuff or the young quarterback stuff where guys panic, where guys overreact, or guys just play too frenetic. He doesn't play anything like that."
You can listen to the entire interview with Baldinger below.
You can watch the interview below.