The San Francisco 49ers are the hottest team in the NFL after winning nine straight. Rookie Brock Purdy has been a key part of that run of dominance, and it seems head coach Kyle Shanahan realized early on that he had something special on his hands in the young quarterback.
For the 49ers head coach, he didn’t need a couple of games and practices to become comfortable with Purdy leading the team. In a Thursday chat with KNBR 680’s “Tolbert & Copes” radio show, the HC said the moment he knew the rookie was different was when he got home after Purdy filled in to lead the 49ers to a win over the Dolphins.
“I think when that hit me, it was after his first game. When I got home that night, I was surprised. Jimmy goes down and gets hurt, he goes in that game and they’re all-out blitzing and doing a bunch of crazy stuff. We played with him for three quarters, and once I got home that night, I was like, ‘holy cow.’”
The 43-year-old added that early in Purdy’s tenure he saw the Iowa State standout make the right plays and place passes where they needed to be — proving to him that the keys to the offense were shockingly in good hands.
“You realize your third guy is going in there, it’s his first game, but after watching him for just a few series, I quickly forgot about it. And that’s not because I forgot about it, that’s just because he made me forget about it. The ball’s going to the right spot, he’s playing aggressive, but not stupid. He’s playing fast and things are going well. I was surprised when I got home that night that I was feeling that way.”
The 49ers have had some terrible luck in 2022 when it comes to their QB depth chart. Not only did Week 1 starter Trey Lance go down with a season-ending injury, but so did his replacement, and 2021 starter, Jimmy Garoppolo.
A team losing its starting signal-caller is usually enough to sink a season, however, losing a good backup should have been the death of the San Francisco 49ers’ 2022-23 campaign. Yet for all the bad luck, they have been graced with the good fortune of having a rookie QB who has taken the league by storm.
Purdy has helped lead the 49ers to victories in every game since being thrust into the starting role in Week 13, and he has been impressive in those five games, throwing 10 touchdown passes to just three interceptions. It’s a stunning start for any rookie QB, especially for one who was the final pick in the 2022 NFL Draft.
