NFL analyst Brian Baldinger asserts that Brock Purdy is a legitimate contender for the NFL MVP award. The San Francisco 49ers quarterback has been playing at an elite level, leading the league in several statistical categories, including completion percentage (70.2), touchdown percentage (6.9), yards per attempt (9.6), yards gained per completion (13.7), and passer rating (116.1).
"If Brock Purdy keeps playing like this, I think Brock Purdy is the MVP," Baldinger said Tuesday morning on 95.7 The Game's "The Morning Roast" show.
While acknowledging that the 49ers are a perfect fit for Purdy, Baldinger dismisses the notion that San Francisco's talented roster and head coach Kyle Shanahan's system are solely responsible for Purdy's success.
"Honestly, they could have drafted quarterbacks for the next 10 years at the top of the draft, giving away all their draft picks to go up there, and they're not going to find anybody better than Brock," Baldinger asserted. "They're just not going to do it. They found the perfect player for this whole system.
"I think he could be successful with the Jets right now, and he can make them a playoff team. I think he can make a lot of teams successful. But in this particular organization, and the group around them, and the veteran leadership, and the playmakers they have, he's the perfect complement."
The 49ers are playing with a lot of confidence. That was on full display on Sunday when the team went into Philadelphia and beat the defending NFC champions Eagles 42-19. The result is probably different without Purdy, which was evident by last season's playoff defeat in Philadelphia, a game in which the 49ers quarterback suffered an early injury.
"You just go, he sees the whole field sideline to sideline, and then, anything down the field, he sees," Baldinger shared. "He's got the eyes of a hawk, and then he just has the footwork to make sure that every throw is just about perfect."
The 49ers are averaging 29.3 points per game, putting them on pace for 498 total points this season, just shy of the 505 scored by the 1994 squad, the current franchise leaders. While this year's team is on a historic trajectory, Baldinger emphasizes that achieving the ultimate goal is imperative for their lasting legacy.
"The only way it goes down as an all-timer is if they win a Super Bowl. Nothing short of it," Baldinger declared. "You can put up all the stats you want. You can have all the great, glorious Sundays in a regular season. You could blow out some seventh seed in the first round of the playoffs. But unless they win the Super Bowl, then nobody's going to talk about them compared to the other Super Bowl teams."
You can listen to the entire conversation with Baldinger below.