Evaluations of quarterback Brock Purdy seem to swirl around one particular factor—supporting cast. The argument goes like this: He is surrounded by playmakers, and his head coach is a genius who can scheme success out of anyone, so Purdy can't be all that great.
At least, that's the way the story goes. Journalist Grant Cohn calls Purdy a "situation quarterback," saying that Brock is "good in the right situation. He got drafted by a team that was coming off an NFC Championship appearance and had just traded for Christian McCaffrey. When Jimmy Garoppolo went down, the 49ers had won four games in a row. They were rolling. Purdy just kept the team on their roll. He couldn't have gone to a better situation."
Cohn does not mention that, with Jimmy G, the Niners averaged 26 points per game after McCaffery arrived, while Purdy's offense averaged 33, a full touchdown better.
But Grant's point is that Brock benefited from the system, not the system from Brock's talent. And the implication is that the really great quarterbacks don't need advantageous circumstances.
Of course, we know that future Hall of Famer Patrick Mahomes received no benefit from being drafted by the Kansas City Chiefs, sitting behind and learning from a Pro Bowl quarterback in Alex Smith, and being groomed by Coach of the Year Andy Reid. Surely, if the Browns had drafted Mahomes, Cleveland would have hoisted several Lombardi trophies by now, not KC. The situation made no difference.
And our beloved Steve Young, when he started his career in Tampa, led that 2-14 team to ... 2-14. It was only after being traded to San Francisco and sitting behind Joe Montana and being coached by Bill Walsh that Young's 53% completion rating in Tampa finally surpassed 60%.
And Brett Favre's situation in Green Bay with Head Coach Mike Holmgren had no influence on the Hall of Famer's performance.
Every great quarterback has benefited from being in a good situation.
Dan Gottlieb pays Purdy the ultimate insult, calling him "the classic trailer, not the truck."
The suggestion, of course, is that great quarterbacks don't need a talented supporting cast. They simply win with whoever is around them. And how can you argue that Purdy is judged harshly because of his draft position? After all, quarterbacks not drafted high have been adjudged "great." I mean, look at how everyone, including Hall of Fame voters, considered Kurt Warner, an undrafted free agent, to be great.
They did, and he was. Kurt Warner with a surrounding cast of Hall of Fame running back Marshall Faulk, Hall of Fame receiver Isaac Bruce, Hall of Fame left tackle Orlando Pace, and Hall of Fame finalist Tory Holt. Not to mention having the most inventive offensive coordinator in football, Mike Martz. But that situation had nothing to do with Warner's success.
And then there was that quarterback in 2003 whose statistics were almost identical to Brock's in 2023, Peyton Manning. Surely, I am not comparing Brock Purdy to Peyton Manning! Of course, I wouldn't do such a thing. Not Peyton Manning, who played with not one, but two Hall of Fame running backs, Marshall Faulk and Edgerrin James, Hall of Fame receiver Marvin Harrison, Hall of Fame finalist Reggie Wayne, All-Pro tight end Dallas Clark, and All-Pro center Jeff Saturday. Peyton became a star on his own. He was the sole reason for his—and the Colts'—success. He would have lit it up with the Jets.
But Peyton Manning won two Super Bowls, you say? Yes, in the first one, he threw one touchdown pass, an interception, and fumbled. In the second one, he threw for 141 yards, tossed one interception, and no touchdowns—and lost a fumble. So in his two biggest victories, he passed for less than 400 yards, threw one touchdown, and committed four turnovers. I mean, those are classic truck stat lines.
People keep pointing to a dip in Brock's numbers last year—as if that wouldn't be expected of any quarterback who lost his Offensive Player of the Year running back (Christian McCaffrey) and his #2 running back (Elijah Mitchell) before the season began, and then his #3 running back (Jordan Mason) later. Purdy didn't have his #1 wideout, Brandon Aiyuk, for most of the season, and All-Pro receiver Deebo Samual and All-Pro tight end George Kittle missed games. His All-Pro left tackle, Trent Williams, was out for close to half the season.
My guess is that Jalen Hurts might not have won the Super Bowl last year if he had been without his Offensive Player of the Year running back, Saquon Barkley, top receiver, AJ Brown, and one of his top linemen (let alone have Purdy's porous O-line in general). Philly would surely have won those seven one-score games even if they had been without four defensive starters as the Niners were (and three of theirs were All-Pros). No, Hurts would have elevated them past all of that to a Super Bowl victory.
I am not arguing that Brock is a future Hall of Famer—who knows with those things—just that any player who was on the NFL's All-Rookie team, made the Pro Bowl in year two, and even with all of those injuries to his supporting cast in year three, still threw for the 5th-most yards per game, is a pretty darn good player.
Though people grudgingly give Purdy props for breaking the 49ers' single-season passing yards record in his second season with 4,280, the next year, they point out, he regressed, throwing for a very pedestrian 3,864.
But have the critics done the math? They don't seem to realize that if Brock had played those two games he missed, even in his situation with second- and third-stringers and not stars, he would have broken it again with 4,379.