QB Brock Purdy Thread

Originally posted by random49er:


"about right"....

i'll tell you what, josh allen didn't make life easy on brock's agent

Originally posted by Since07:
I don't think its weak but average, think the farthest I've seen him throw is 60 yards. The average is 60-70 yards for a nfl qb 80 yards is elite arm strength. So yeah you want to see a bit more strength. Hes got good enough velocity he just plays with touch and anticipation a lot which is fine but being able to push the ball deep down field is where you want a little more

He might legitimately have the weakest arm of any starter in the league. It's definitely not average. It's one of the key physical limitations that had him so low in the draft. I think the longest pass he's thrown was the tipped completion to Aiyuk against Detroit, and that was about 50 yards in the air from the spot he threw, and 45 'air yards' (counting from the LoS). That seems to be about his max.

Obviously we were very successful working around this limitation in 23 especially.

Originally posted by SmokeyJoe:

Originally posted by Since07:
I don't think its weak but average, think the farthest I've seen him throw is 60 yards. The average is 60-70 yards for a nfl qb 80 yards is elite arm strength. So yeah you want to see a bit more strength. Hes got good enough velocity he just plays with touch and anticipation a lot which is fine but being able to push the ball deep down field is where you want a little more

He might legitimately have the weakest arm of any starter in the league. It's definitely not average. It's one of the key physical limitations that had him so low in the draft. I think the longest pass he's thrown was the tipped completion to Aiyuk against Detroit, and that was about 50 yards in the air from the spot he threw, and 45 'air yards' (counting from the LoS). That seems to be about his max.

Obviously we were very successful working around this limitation in 23 especially.

The longest throw I could find was a 53 yard pass which yeah is below average

Originally posted by Since07:
The longest throw I could find was a 53 yard pass which yeah is below average

This pass traveled 44-45 yards in the air.

Originally posted by Since07:
I don't think its weak but average, think the farthest I've seen him throw is 60 yards. The average is 60-70 yards for a nfl qb 80 yards is elite arm strength. So yeah you want to see a bit more strength. Hes got good enough velocity he just plays with touch and anticipation a lot which is fine but being able to push the ball deep down field is where you want a little more

I honestly can't think of a starting QB with a weaker arm. It'd be between purdy, tua, browns starter, JJ McCarthy maybe,?, and.... That's it. I honestly think all of those players have a stronger arm than Brock but that's the list.

Not debatable at all, his arm strength isn't good and is below average by NFL standards.

Now you want to get into accuracy, arm angles, etc. it's a different story

A question... How many passes of 50 yds or more does the average NFL QB throw in a game? What's the completion percentage on those throws?

Originally posted by eastie:
A question... How many passes of 50 yds or more does the average NFL QB throw in a game? What's the completion percentage on those throws?

As many as 120 or so collectively per season. About half are completed.

Originally posted by eastie:
A question... How many passes of 50 yds or more does the average NFL QB throw in a game? What's the completion percentage on those throws?

The argument always goes to this point when it's really not the point at all. People show these videos because they are easy examples of arm strength, not because they are critical or commonplace throws throughout a game.

You can watch various NFL quarterbacks make deep, intermediate, and even short throws where their superior arm strength is a real factor in the success of the play. Throws that are really not in our QB's 'bag'. It's a limitation not strictly related to go routes or deep posts etc.

You guys are arguing the wrong thing. Arm strength as far as "distance" thrown is not that big a deal. What IS a problem is arm strength lacking that "zip" as faithful6 was getting crap for. He was right. Everyone can see Purdy lacks in comparison with the rest of the league. It's why timing is more important for him than others and he NEEDS to throw it before the route breaks. I hold my breath admittedly on out routes due to his weak arm; those are easy pick sixes if not timed perfectly by Brock.

Originally posted by SmokeyJoe:

Originally posted by Since07:
I don't think its weak but average, think the farthest I've seen him throw is 60 yards. The average is 60-70 yards for a nfl qb 80 yards is elite arm strength. So yeah you want to see a bit more strength. Hes got good enough velocity he just plays with touch and anticipation a lot which is fine but being able to push the ball deep down field is where you want a little more

He might legitimately have the weakest arm of any starter in the league. It's definitely not average. It's one of the key physical limitations that had him so low in the draft. I think the longest pass he's thrown was the tipped completion to Aiyuk against Detroit, and that was about 50 yards in the air from the spot he threw, and 45 'air yards' (counting from the LoS). That seems to be about his max.

Obviously we were very successful working around this limitation in 23 especially.

His velocity was slightly above league average in the lead up to the draft. In 2023, after a major elbow injury, no one was calling his arm less than average. Whatever happened last year, he lost some zip. It's a bit premature to say he has the weakest arm given we don't have a full understanding of what was going on with his arm last year. Let's hope he's back to his 2023 self.

Originally posted by Chance:
His velocity was slightly above league average in the lead up to the draft. In 2023, after a major elbow injury, no one was calling his arm less than average. Whatever happened last year, he lost some zip. It's a bit premature to say he has the weakest arm given we don't have a full understanding of what was going on with his arm last year. Let's hope he's back to his 2023 self.

A mph reading in a workout environment really isn't a great measure of arm strength, and there were certainly people mentioning it being below average prior to and during 2023. I'm not sure how this isn't obvious by simply watching teams play around the league.

Any meaningful debate isn't whether he has an arm strength limitation. He does. It's whether we can do everything we need to do with his skillset including this and any other limitation. It looked like it through the bulk of '23 and I think there are some more questions after last year.

He has less margin for error than more talented QBs, but that doesn't mean the job can't be done.

Originally posted by eastie:
A question... How many passes of 50 yds or more does the average NFL QB throw in a game? What's the completion percentage on those throws?

I saw a stat before that 80% of plays are 15-20 yards or less. Might have been more but the point is that an astronomical amount of the plays aren't deep throws. I think the stat was that like 2% of all plays are more than 25 yards or so.

I'll try to find it but I'm at an airport, so might not. As a whole, having a massive arm helps but isn't neccessary. It's really the velocity that matters, IMO. How quick can you get it somewhere vs throwing super far - Allen and mahommes have great velocity on their throws - they also have strong arms but I've always been impressed in the windows they can create with their great velocity.

Originally posted by SmokeyJoe:
A mph reading in a workout environment really isn't a great measure of arm strength, and there were certainly people mentioning it being below average prior to and during 2023. I'm not sure how this isn't obvious by simply watching teams play around the league.

Any meaningful debate isn't whether he has an arm strength limitation. He does. It's whether we can do everything we need to do with his skillset including this and any other limitation. It looked like it through the bulk of '23 and I think there are some more questions after last year.

He has less margin for error than more talented QBs, but that doesn't mean the job can't be done.

Yeah Brock doesn't have a "bad" arm but def not a great one. I'd say his arm strength is below average but not dramatically. He makes up for it with his accuracy, touch, timing, etc.

he def doesn't have a great arm though, no doubt about that. He has a good enough arm but he can't make some of the plays guys like Allen does because he doesn't have the arm to make certain throws in chaotic situations. He can make great throws but not as easily as those guys can with a cannon, IMO.

for example, he can make a throw like the one Aiyuk dropped in the playoffs. Which was a great throw but he had to set his feet and all that, Allen/Pat can just gun that in with awkward setting.

Originally posted by tankle104:

Originally posted by eastie:
A question... How many passes of 50 yds or more does the average NFL QB throw in a game? What's the completion percentage on those throws?

I saw a stat before that 80% of plays are 15-20 yards or less. Might have been more but the point is that an astronomical amount of the plays aren't deep throws. I think the stat was that like 2% of all plays are more than 25 yards or so.

I'll try to find it but I'm at an airport, so might not. As a whole, having a massive arm helps but isn't neccessary. It's really the velocity that matters, IMO. How quick can you get it somewhere vs throwing super far - Allen and mahommes have great velocity on their throws - they also have strong arms but I've always been impressed in the windows they can create with their great velocity.

Originally posted by 49ers808:
You guys are arguing the wrong thing. Arm strength as far as "distance" thrown is not that big a deal. What IS a problem is arm strength lacking that "zip" as faithful6 was getting crap for. He was right. Everyone can see Purdy lacks in comparison with the rest of the league. It's why timing is more important for him than others and he NEEDS to throw it before the route breaks. I hold my breath admittedly on out routes due to his weak arm; those are easy pick sixes if not timed perfectly by Brock.

It's not really that bad. He's ok on arm strength. Just not a cannon like Allen or Herbert. He has enough there. With timing, anticipation and accuracy.