Brock Purdy, the young quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers, has been facing increased scrutiny in recent weeks. As is often the case, the quarterback shoulders much of the blame when a team goes through a rough patch.
The 49ers started the season with an impressive five-game winning streak, during which Purdy did not throw a single interception. However, the team has since suffered three consecutive losses, and Purdy has thrown five interceptions in that span, including two in each of the last two games.
Hall of Fame quarterback Steve Young joined Bay Area radio station KNBR on Thursday, as he does each week during the NFL season, and provided his assessment of Purdy. Some of it was positive, while some was negative. That should be expected when discussing a young quarterback. Remember, Purdy only has 16 starts under his belt, including the postseason, barely approaching a full season's worth of games.
Except Young doesn't see that as an excuse.
"He came kind of fully formed," Young told Tom Tolbert and Adam Copeland. "Most guys that are going to be great at it or good at it kind of have to work at it a little bit. But he kind of came fully formed. Like, he came out of college really ahead, far ahead, of the developmental process for NFL quarterbacks.
"And so that's the part that we talk about every week that allows him to have tight guardrails. We're not expecting really terrible football games, you know, blood everywhere. We expect him to kind of hold it together and be pretty efficient."
One noteworthy observation Young made surrounded Purdy's timing and delivery. According to Young, when Purdy plants his back foot, the ball is released with purpose and intention soon after, displaying an aspirational quality.
"And so he's going to have throws that just ... everyone else doesn't meet the aspiration of his timing," Young noted.
Purdy has demonstrated efficiency when throwing the ball 20 yards or more downfield. His passer rating of 125.0 on such throws ranks sixth in the NFL, and his overall Pro Football Focus grade of 92.9 on these downfield passes ranks ninth.
Young believes there is still room for improvement with his deeper throws, ones that travel at least 40 yards. Mastering this area could place Purdy among the elite quarterbacks in the league.
Young commented, "That's where they get those cheap pass interference, end of game, kind of big, chunky stuff that happens, and every once in a while, one of those big plays."
Despite some interceptions at crucial moments, Young insists that Purdy is not making "dumb" mistakes, as is often the case with young, inexperienced quarterbacks.
"A lot of guys throw picks at the end of games, they're like, 'What happened?'" Young shared. "Well, if you don't know what happened, then we're in deep trouble, bro, because you're the one with the ball in your hands. But I'm telling you, a lot of quarterbacks come to the sidelines after making mistakes, and Coach will say, 'What did you see?' They're making it up. Literally like, 'Whoa, I thought the linebacker went deep.' Like their mind went blank.
"That's not Brock. Brock is going to come to the sidelines and going to go, 'Oh, crap. I thought he was going to break earlier. I saw every bit of it.' Nothing ever happens, [in] my mind, that Brock doesn't see. And so those mistakes at the end of the game, he is an aspirational thrower. The ball's going to come out. I think he's unafraid, especially in that range that he's really good at."
Young isn't worried about Purdy's recent slip-ups, insisting that the 49ers quarterback can clean those up moving forward. He doesn't view the interceptions at critical times as a defining characteristic for the 23-year-old.
"So there's a lot of positives, but I don't think we should say, 'Oh, he's young,' because, in a way, we can't have it both ways," Young said. "He actually came to us pretty fully formed, and so his presence and the things that we say for young quarterbacks making dumb mistakes, I don't think he makes dumb mistakes, even at his age.
"I think he makes mistakes, which everyone makes, but I don't think they're dumb ones. I think that he might have been fooled, he might have overthought it, but it wasn't what is normal for young quarterbacks, which is, 'I have no idea what just happened.'"
You can listen to the entire conversation with Young below.