Brock Purdy is a rookie. He was a seventh-round draft pick. In fact, he was the last overall pick in the draft. I'm just reminding you of that in case you forgot. After all, watching the 23-year-old San Francisco 49ers quarterback on the field, it's easy to forget that he has started just six NFL games.
One of those starts was this past weekend's playoff win over the Seattle Seahawks. Next, he'll face the Dallas Cowboys in the Divisional Round.
Purdy has taken the NFL by storm, becoming one of the more intriguing storylines of the season, given he was draft pick No. 262—labeled as "Mr. Irrelevant."
It's tough to win in the NFL. Yes, Purdy has a talented supporting cast around him, but he is still a rookie. So what he is doing with his opportunity is impressive. The quarterback finished Sunday's playoff game with 332 passing yards and four total touchdowns, including one on the ground.
How has Purdy impressed the 49ers since he took over for an injured Jimmy Garoppolo on December 4?
"I think just the poise, the presence," general manager John Lynch said Wednesday morning on 95.7 The Game's The Morning Roast. "The pressure on that position in this league, it's immense. It really is. I think one thing that we saw from day one—he wasn't going to be fazed."
Purdy didn't get many reps during the 49ers' offseason program or training camp. After all, he was just fighting for a roster spot in a quarterback room that already included Trey Lance and Nate Sudfeld and would eventually regain Garoppolo.
"The number three guy, at that point, you're getting four or five meaningful reps ... during the course of practice in the team periods," Lynch explained. "But whenever he went in, he made the right decision, and it was often times a bold decision, not like the safe one. If throwing into a tight window was the right play, he was doing that. And when you make quick decisions, and you anticipate in this league, good things typically happen."
Purdy started truly impressing his coaches during the preseason. It was enough for the team's decision-makers to keep him on the 53-man roster rather than risk exposing him to waivers in an attempt to get him onto the practice squad.
Have the 49ers been impressed with Purdy's early success?
"Obviously, with this success, we are; how well he's played," Lynch admitted. "But I think the area that probably surprised us: You saw some running ability in college, but I didn't know he was this good an athlete. He's a very good athlete. ... His ability to move on the field and create and extend, that has been surprising for us. I can't say that we saw that. I saw a good athlete. I did not see this. So he's been tremendous for us."
You can listen to the entire conversation with Lynch below.