Brock Purdy’s success as Mr. Irrelevant during his rookie season was unprecedented. However, it wasn’t just his status as the final pick in the draft that made his first year remarkable. Sumer Sports, an NFL analytics outlet, put together a graphic that shows Purdy as the second-most productive rookie quarterback since 2016.
The graphic organizes rookie QB production by expected points added per play among players who played at least 250 snaps.
EPA/play is a metric that works as “a measure of success which defines the value of each play by the effect it has on the offense’s likelihood to score” per Pro Football Focus.
For our purposes we can whittle it down to the higher the number the better. Patrick Mahomes led the NFL last year with an EPA/play of 0.302.
Last season Purdy had an EPA/play of 0.23, which trailed only Cowboys QB Dak Prescott (0.24) for best among rookie QBs since 2016.
What each quarterback's rookie year production has been since 2016 (minimum of 250 plays) pic.twitter.com/1AbE5Pc6P8
— SumerSports (@sumersports) April 3, 2023
Purdy’s 0.23 EPA/play was right in line with Jimmy Garoppolo, who was at 0.236 before his injury per RBSDM.
The question now for Purdy is whether he can keep up that level of production over a full-season sample size. He appears to be on track to find a ton of success in Kyle Shanahan’s offense alongside the slew of weapons at his disposal. If he can improve on his rookie year number – San Francisco’s offense could reach previously unforeseen heights.
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