For the second time in 11 weeks, the San Fransisco 49ers are pivoting at quarterback. Trey Lance gave way for Jimmy Garoppolo. Now Garoppolo, replete with a 7-3 record as starter and a broken foot that will cost him the rest of the 2022 season, will give way to Brock Purdy.
Purdy, the final selection of the 2022 NFL Draft, is now the center of the 49ers offense. But while starting a seventh-round rookie is anything but ideal, it’s reasonable to think the 49ers can still claim the NFC West title, make waves through the playoffs, and even punch their way into Super Bowl 57.
I wrote last week about how San Francisco is built specifically to minimize the defects of a shaky quarterback. For Lance it was the boom/bust capabilities of an FCS stud who was rarely used as a dropback passer his rookie season. For Garoppolo, it was about reducing the opportunities he had to bury the team under his mistakes. Now Purdy will operate under Kyle Shanahan’s influence and get the best of both those worlds.
Week 13 wasn’t Purdy’s NFL debut, but it was his best performance as a pro to date — not a difficult task, considering his other meaningful appearance before Sunday saw him complete four of nine passes and throw an interception in mop-up duty in a loss to the Kansas City Chiefs. The Purdy we saw against the Miami Dolphins in a showdown against one of the AFC’s top teams blew that guy away. In fact, he blew MVP candidate Tua Tagovailoa away:
Purdy finished his day by completing 25 of 37 passes for 210 yards, two touchdowns and one interception. San Francisco’s win was partially about his competence behind center, but much more closely related to its defense haranguing Tagovailoa into his worst performance of 2022. And while that may make an overwhelmed rookie easy to shrug off on a day where the Dolphins weren’t expecting him, it’s the exact reason why the Niners can’t be dismissed as Super Bowl contenders, even with the football equivalent of a lottery scratcher at quarterback.
Let’s talk about why.