I’m a Brock Purdy fan. His story is undeniable, from 262 to leading the Super Bowl in overtime. He’s polite, professional, gritty. His biggest material want in this crass market economy is a bass fishing boat. His new contract is that most elusive of things in today’s hot take world: reasonable.
So how is a guy supposed to make a Jock Blog about all that?
Let’s try: I am wondering if all the good vibes of Purdy showing up to OTAs without an extension, and all the good vibes of Purdy then signing in the month of May, and all the good vibes of Purdy’s team-first press conferences are softening our edge.
Namely, Purdy is going to have be a lot better in 2025 than he was in 2024.
He knows that. This is not “Fox Sports Chime” breaking news. But it needs to be said.
We can go through all the excuses from 2024: from the ‘Bummer Summer’ of Brandon Aiyuk/Trent Williams/Christian McCaffrey to the collapse of the Nick Sorensen front seven. Football is a team game, yes. And are wins a QB statistic? I digress.
Because there were some distressing signs last year. Purdy lost both games against the Rams, both in late-and-close situations. He failed to get the 49ers even into field goal range in a 24-24 game in September down in L.A. Yes, Ronnie Bell dropped a pass, but you’d love for your quarterback to overcome a drop. Purdy failed to lead the 49ers to a touchdown in the 12-6 rain-soaked December loss at Levi’s that effectively ended the season. He threw a late interception in the end zone on a bad decision that prevented a game-tying field goal attempt.
The 49ers lost four times to NFC West foes after leading in the fourth quarter — the first time that happened in the NFL in 24 years. Purdy threw a game-ending pick in a home loss to Arizona. In the home loss to Seattle, Purdy couldn’t convert on second or third downs with under three minutes to go, leading to Geno Smith’s epic game-winning drive.
Listen, nobody has any fun reliving the nightmare of the 2024 season. In each of those games in crunch time, the defense did its best impression of a sieve. Everyone had a smudgy fingerprint on last year’s stinker, as I was just saying to my good pal Jake Moody.
I’m just saying the good vibes of a Brock Purdy presser and Brock Purdy KNBR phoner are all well and good. As a show host, I appreciate it the most — he’s good content and gives morning commuters a good 20-minute blast of Purdy-ness to make you forget about your commute. But once the positive well-wishes subside, it’s time to start thinking about beating Seattle in Week One.
I’m certain that’s Purdy’s intention. I’m certain he will put in the film study and the weights and the reps. He has Christian McCaffrey back. He has a motivated Kyle Shanahan.
Now they just have to do it. There comes a point when we put aside the plaudits for the “No Drama Obama” month-of-May contract sign and start getting nasty. A bass fishing boat is good for your days off — but we know what Bill Belichick said about days off.
Bottom line: I’m looking forward to post-contract salty Purdy, holding the building to a higher standard, ASAP.