The San Francisco 49ers entered the 2024 season with high expectations. Coming off a crushing Super Bowl defeat, the team fully anticipated another championship run. Instead, injuries derailed the campaign, leading to a frustrating 6-11 finish and a last-place spot in the NFC West.
Quarterback Brock Purdy, who set a single-season franchise record with 4,280 passing yards in 2023, hoped to carry the 49ers through adversity. While he delivered moments of promise, it wasn't enough to prevent the inevitable collapse.
Still, San Francisco's faith in Purdy remained strong. The front office rewarded him with a five-year, $265 million contract extension, making the last overall pick in the 2022 NFL Draft among the league's highest-paid players. That deal came with consequences, though. The higher salary meant less future cap flexibility and led to the loss of several key contributors this offseason.
There's no doubt the 49ers will lean on Purdy more heavily moving forward, and the 25-year-old quarterback knows he must rise to the challenge. Reflecting on the 2024 season, Purdy believes he learned a valuable lesson—one that will make him a better quarterback moving forward.
"I would say I was frustrated about losing the Super Bowl, and it was like, Alright, we got to get back," Purdy told Sports Illustrated's Albert Breer. "That's all I saw, was getting back. And because some of those guys are out, I have to go make plays to get us back. And for me, I was losing sight of, Bro, keep every play as simple as possible, and don't complicate it.
"And you will get back if you do your job the right way, every single drive for four quarters, and you win the game. At times, I lost sight of that. I was trying to do too much."
While Purdy's stats last season weren't poor, they fell short of his record-setting 2023. He finished with 3,864 passing yards, 20 touchdowns, and 12 interceptions—numbers critics used to back the narrative that he isn't an elite quarterback without a strong supporting cast.
Head coach Kyle Shanahan, however, believes Purdy can thrive despite the roster turnover.
"Yeah, it puts more pressure on a guy when you don't have All-Pros in a bunch of spots, but Brock's the one that can do it," Shanahan said. "Brock's the one who I think will play better."
Purdy admits that last season he pressed too hard, straying from the fundamentals that had led to previous success.
"I felt this pressure on myself that I need to be this Superman-type guy, and go out and make plays off schedule," Purdy explained. "There were some moments when I was like, Dude, you've got to go back to the basics. It doesn't matter who's out there. The way Kyle calls plays, you run it right, just like your rookie year, and it works. Stick to that and be consistent. Don't go searching because Christian [McCaffrey] is out of this game, and you think you have to go replace him."
Roster turnover has fueled a lot of uncertainty surrounding the 49ers heading into the 2025 season. However, Purdy sees 2025 as an opportunity to prove doubters wrong.
"I feel like there's this … Oh, they're in a rebuild," Purdy said. "And so for me, what excites me is I want to go show everybody we have what it takes to win right now. It doesn't matter, we're going to go build and come together [over time], and then go put a season together, man, and make a run. And I think we have the team to go win it all. And I'll say it, but that's what excites me."