Brock Purdy did some impressive things in his rookie stint as the San Francisco 49ers' starting quarterback. He was forced to play after injuries to Trey Lance and Jimmy Garoppolo, and the Niners offense didn't skip a beat, averaging 33.5 points per game in the final six weeks of the regular season.
"Brock played real well in those [final] games, and we expect him to play better this year," head coach Kyle Shanahan told Sirius XM NFL Radio.
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Shanahan had so much confidence in his young quarterback that he declared him the starter for the upcoming season, assuming he was healthy. Purdy suffered a torn ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) in his right elbow during the NFC Championship Game, undergoing surgery on March 10. The team cleared him to practice at the start of training camp.
The 49ers can win with Purdy at the helm of Shanahan's offense. The second-year quarterback showed that last season. But how good is he really? Is he a franchise guy? If needed, can Purdy carry a team to a championship?
One NFL insider weighed in on those questions.
"I think he's a guy you can win games with," NFL insider Benjamin Allbright said Friday morning on 95.7 The Game. "I don't think he's dragging a team to a Super Bowl. But if you've got a good enough defense, a good enough run game, and good enough skill position players around him, you can win games and maybe get to and maybe win a Super Bowl.
"If you're talking franchise guy, I usually think of somebody who can just pick them up and carry them to a Super Bowl, and Brock's not that guy. But they know that. ... Brock Purdy's a good quarterback, and you can win football games with him. But if you need somebody to drag you to a Super Bowl, I'm not sure he's the guy."
Even if he can't carry a team on his back, Purdy will have a lot of talent around him in 2023. The 49ers own one of the most talented rosters in the NFL and are considered a Super Bowl contender, even with question marks at the quarterback position.
Allbright added, "Brock, he's a good quarterback. You can win games with him. But that's the same thing we were saying about Jimmy [Garoppolo]. I mean, at the end of the day, you could win games with him, but how far is he going to take you? And are you willing to be the Marty Schottenheimer franchise, where you're always making the playoffs but never making the Super Bowl?"
You can listen to the entire conversation with Allbright below.