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feels like this past year flew by. The San Francisco 49ers quarterback spent all of last offseason recovering from the surgery to repair the torn ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) he suffered in the NFC Championship Game. He entered Week 1 as the starting quarterback and has had a phenomenal season. Purdy's 4,280 passing yards
set a new franchise single-season record.
"It's been a pretty quick year," Purdy told reporters on Wednesday. "It feels like we were just in the playoffs, and we were just in Philly and all that. So, it's gone fast."
Now, here he is, preparing for another playoff run. Purdy hopes this season will be different, with the end goal of hoisting the Lombardi Trophy.
With last season's playoff run and so many more games under his belt, Purdy feels better prepared for whatever this postseason throws at him. The young quarterback plays with so much poise that it's easy to forget that he is only in his second NFL season.
"I feel like it's a little different," Purdy shared. "Just last year, still trying to find my way, in a sense. I got thrown in towards the end of the year, and so every single week, I was still trying to play good, and learn who I was as a quarterback, and obviously get more familiar with playing within the system."
Purdy entered his rookie season as the third quarterback on the depth chart. However, by Week 13, injuries had thrust him into the starting role. While it was a lot of pressure for a first-year player, Purdy welcomed the challenge.
"So those are all things that were sort of on my plate last year, and then obviously trying to win every single week and get this team to the end," Purdy continued. "And so now, I guess this year, just being more familiar with the offense, who I am and all that, it's a little different. But it's good to sort of watch the games from last year and sort of remember just the feeling and the emotions of playing in a playoff game.
"It's good. It's huge for me as a quarterback to go back to those moments and sort of remember what it feels like. So those are things that I'm sort of banking on."
Purdy admits that his first playoff game was tense because of the importance of every play. He didn't want to make a costly mistake that would end the season for the 49ers. At the same time, he had to make enough plays to ensure the team emerged with a victory.
"So those were things I sort of had to learn," Purdy said. "And watching the film, you get back into that feeling of last year and the first time in a playoff game. So it's sort of good to remember those kinds of things moving forward, sort of understanding what to expect for the first playoff game this year for me."
Purdy also draws from his experience this season. Which game was most beneficial? It wasn't some blowout victory against a formidable opponent. Instead, it was the devastating Christmas night loss to the Baltimore Ravens.
There was a lot of hype entering that primetime matchup. It was tough to ignore the outside noise, and Purdy threw a career-high four interceptions in
the 33-19 defeat. The quarterback believes the experience will benefit him headed into another nationally broadcast matchup this weekend.
"Yeah, just it being a primetime game, Christmas Day, and all that kind of stuff, and then we sort of had two really good plays in the beginning of the game, and the stadium is feeling it, everybody's feeling good, and then boom, you make a mistake," Purdy recounted.
"So for me, it's huge to be able to get in that kind of moment and remember those kinds of things, for as tough as they were and how bad as I felt after. Man, that kind of stuff, it can help you if you allow it to, to go back and watch it on film and be real with yourself about those moments and what it takes to play quarterback at this level and be successful and play consistently and make the right decisions consistently.
"So those are all things that I took account from that game that I think I got better at. And honestly, we're going to find out with the playoffs coming up, in this game. Yeah, I thought I took some stuff away from it, but at the end of the day, we're going to find out on Saturday."
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Brock Purdy is poised to become the highest-paid player for the San Francisco 49ers next year. That's when the team can begin contract extension negotiations. There's ongoing speculation about where Purdy's impending mega-deal will land compared to the contracts of other elite quarterbacks. While some anticipate he could command the highest salary in the league, especially if he replicates his stellar 2023 performance, others suggest he deserves to be handsomely paid, but without necessarily topping the market.
Former NFL general manager Mike Tannenbaum, currently an ESPN analyst, offered his viewpoint on "NFL Live," outlining why he thinks it's advantageous for both Purdy and the 49ers if the quarterback doesn't demand the highest salary in the league.
"Well,
Brock Purdy's standing in the hierarchy of NFL quarterbacks remains a contentious topic. While many argue that the San Francisco 49ers' signal-caller deserves a place near the top of quarterback rankings, others contend that Purdy is merely a game manager or a beneficiary of head coach Kyle Shanahan's system.
Regardless of these debates, one thing seems increasingly likely: Purdy will become the highest-paid player on the 49ers' roster next offseason and will skyrocket toward the top of the NFL's highest-paid players, especially if he turns in another season like his record-breaking 2023 campaign.
Purdy has found a believer in former NFL quarterback turned analyst Chase Daniel, a 14-year veteran of the league.
"Brock Purdy is a top 3 or 4 quarterback
After years of striving to solidify the starting quarterback position, the San Francisco 49ers finally struck gold with the last overall pick of the 2022 NFL Draft, selecting Brock Purdy out of Iowa State.
Admittedly, general manager John Lynch can't take sole credit for the find. During a conversation on the "Pat McAfee Show" this week, Lynch disclosed the individuals within the organization who were instrumental in identifying Purdy as a draft prospect the team should consider.
"I think two people deserve so much credit for Brock Purdy, and one of them is now in our pro department," Lynch shared. "He's a guy by the name of Steve Slowick. His brother's Bobby Slowick, the offensive coordinator down there in Houston. But Steve was the college scout that would go
Former NFL quarterback Alex Smith, who spent his first eight seasons with the San Francisco 49ers, has enthusiastically followed quarterback Brock Purdy's rapid rise. Now the team's starting quarterback, no one could have predicted such success for the former Iowa State passer when the Bay Area team selected him as the No. 262 overall pick in the 2022 NFL Draft.
Following injuries to Trey Lance and Jimmy Garoppolo, Purdy seized his opportunity during his rookie campaign and flourished, leaving Smith impressed and eager to see what the future holds for the 24-year-old signal-caller.
"To see what he's done, it's honestly the best story in the NFL, the best story in football, one of the best stories in sports," Smith said this week on Bay Area radio station 95.7 The
