Niners Nation
When it comes to quarterback rankings, San Francisco 49ers signal-caller Brock Purdy is always a subject of controversy, with many having varying reviews of his play.
Purdy is coming off a 2024 campaign that was up-and-down, but more so due to the environment around him as he was tasked with doing more in an offense that was without Christian McCaffrey, Brandon Aiyuk, Trent Williams, and even Deebo Samuel for chunks of the season.
As a result, the quarterback’s numbers dropped from his uber-efficient 2023 campaign as he tossed for 3,864 yards, 20 touchdowns, and 12 interceptions last year.
Ahead of the 2024 season, The Ringer’s Steven Ruiz ranked Purdy as the No. 16 quarterback, pointing to his above-average traits, but inconsistent decision-making as the reason why.
“Purdy isn’t afraid to make mistakes,” Ruiz said ahead of Week 1 last season. “He’s not checkdown pilled like the quarterbacks who deserve the game manager tag. Like some of the top quarterbacks, Purdy has enough arm talent to layer passes over linebackers and into the hands of his receivers. But he does run into trouble when he has to make those throws with pass rushers in his lap—sometimes sailing those passes into dangerous areas. He is capable of making wow throws, but not without tossing in a few questionable passes, too.
“While Purdy isn’t an elite athlete, he’s not a bad athlete, either. He accelerates and changes direction in tight spaces, which allows him to escape the pocket and find room to run or throw. But, again, there are trade-offs. If you filter out designed rollouts, out-of-pocket plays were the one statistical split that Purdy performed poorly in during his breakout 2023 season. So those scrambles and throws don’t always yield positive results.
“Evaluating Purdy’s physical abilities isn’t the tricky part, though. It’s judging his decision-making in an offense that provides whoever is leading it a uniquely wide margin for error. Purdy isn’t the processing genius some of his fans make him out to be, but he’s also not a mistake-prone quarterback who just throws games away. He’s somewhere in between. Figuring out exactly where may require seeing him work with a higher degree of difficulty.”
Where does Ruiz have Purdy ahead of the 2025 season? Well, it’s actually one spot lower at No. 17, with Jalen Hurts, Kyler Murray, Trevor Lawrence, and Baker Mayfield all directly above Purdy.
“Brock Purdy has now completed two full seasons as the 49ers starter and has shown us two very different versions of his game,” Ruiz wrote. “During his first season, Purdy was celebrated for operating Kyle Shanahan’s system with exquisite timing and precision. In 2024, he acted as more of a playmaker, increasing his scramble rate and average time to throw by significant margins. That was out of necessity—the 49ers offense got hit hard with injuries. Purdy’s pocket wasn’t as clean, and his targets weren’t getting open. Plus, there was an increase in turnovers as the pressure to make plays out of structure mounted late...
