On Thursday morning, NFL analyst Greg Cosell joined KNBR's Murph & Mac show, informing the hosts of a comment he heard from a former NFL coach about San Francisco 49ers rookie quarterback Brock Purdy.
"I don't want you to fall off your chair," Cosell said. "I had a former NFL coach—he will remain nameless because I don't do that, but you would know who he is—tell me that he thinks Brock Purdy reminds him of Joe Montana. ... You think that's high praise? That Montana guy was pretty good."
General manager John Lynch joined KNBR later in the morning and was informed of the comparison. What are his thoughts?
"We're just trying to beat the Seahawks," Lynch said while chuckling.
The general manager did have plenty to say about his young quarterback, though. Purdy replaced an injured Jimmy Garoppolo during Week 13 against the Miami Dolphins, starting the next five games and winning each. Along the way, the 49ers won the NFC West and earned the No. 2 seed in the NFC playoffs. On Saturday, they will host the Seattle Seahawks at Levi's Stadium to open the Wild Card Round.
"What I'll say about Brock is every challenge that has come his way, whether it be in OTAs when you're getting very limited reps, I think what had always impressed me, and probably [head coach] Kyle [Shanahan] more so, he likes guys that are aggressive," Lynch said. "And it's hard to be aggressive when you're only getting three or four reps per day. Brock would make the right decision, but he wasn't afraid to pull the trigger, as Kyle says often, 'Let it rip,' if it was a really tight window.
"It's a hard thing to do in general, but if you're only getting three to four reps, Do I really want to take that chance? But man, he would just come back and do that. And he played highly efficient, highly effective, so kind of [passed] every test. And then you say, 'All right, let's put him in the preseason and see what he does.' And he passed that test.
"And then kind of out of sight, out of mind, running the scout team, doing really well. You know you've got a player for the future. Then Jimmy goes down after Trey [Lance] had gone down. Let's put him in there. Miami threw the kitchen sink at him. They changed their game plan during the course of that game, and he passed that test."
Lynch admits that the tests aren't done. Purdy's next challenge will be his first playoff game. It's a tall order for a seventh-round rookie, but the 49ers have a lot of faith in the quarterback.
"We've got a lot of belief in him, and the great thing that Brock has at his disposal is he's got a great team around him, so he doesn't have to do it all, and he understands that," Lynch explained. "So he's been very impressive, and now we have another challenge as a team, and I think Brock's up for it as well."
You can listen to the entire conversation with Lynch below.