Brock Purdy looks like a rookie. Baby-faced and a bit dazed by the bright lights and cameras surrounding him, Purdy — the last pick in the 2022 NFL Draft — took to the dais at Levi’s Stadium Thursday for his first weekly press conference as the 49ers’ starting quarterback.
But here’s the thing: Purdy didn’t sound like a rookie up there.
Of course, the podium isn’t the field. There wasn’t a crazed 260-pound man blitzing him as he answered questions from the media.
But don’t totally dismiss the value of a Thursday press conference.
As Purdy noted Thursday, a quarterback must be a leader. His job is to “get everyone on the same page… get everyone rolling.”
It’s pretty hard to do that if you aren’t a calm and effective communicator.
And Purdy is just that.
The task ahead of him is colossal. On Sunday, Purdy will start his first NFL game for one of the league’s premier franchises, right in the thick of a division title race, against Tom Brady, the greatest quarterback to ever do it.
It has my head spinning. How is his on straight?
It probably has something to do with the fact that he started for four years in college at Iowa State.
The Big 12 has little on the NFC West, but for four years, Purdy had to integrate new teammates, answer questions about good times and bad, and build up a program from mediocrity (at best) to a team playing in a New Year’s Six bowl.
In short, Purdy was the man for nearly a half decade for an entire program and a million-or-so people fans in a football-mad state. And while he wasn’t, technically, a professional back in Ames, that job isn’t fundamentally different than the one he has now.
“Obviously, the level and the competition’s a little different, but in terms of the mentality of going out and doing whatever it takes to win for your team, I feel like that mentality was really similar… [I’m] just trying to get my teammates’ respect.
“I just wanted to… show them that I’m worthy of playing here and I’m able to get the job done. I had that mentality when I was a freshman in college when I first stepped in… Nothing has changed.”
“That’s the cool part about Brock, he’s always competing, whether it is scout team or what he’s doing now,” Defensive coordinator DeMeco Ryans said. “He doesn’t have to make it bigger than what it is, he just has to go out and play his game.”
Forgive me, but I find the juxtaposition between Purdy and the 49ers’ No. 1 quarterback, Trey Lance, fascinating.
While both know how to work a room when they’re at the microphone, they might as well be opposites.
Purdy has a ton of experience, but undervalued talent (as evidenced by being the last pick in the draft).
Lance had no practical NFL experience, and his talent was coveted by teams around the league in his draft.
Lance started this season. Purdy will finish it.
And we have no idea if either quarterback can really play — if they can take the 49ers where they want to go.
I’m being harsh: Purdy has some talent, too. He might not be able to bomb a ball 50 yards down the field, but he played well in relief of Jimmy Garoppolo last Sunday, extending plays with his feet and putting the ball in some pretty tight windows.
Purdy looked ready for his moment because he was. It doesn’t take four years at Iowa State to know that Garoppolo is an injury liability anytime he steps on the field. So while Purdy didn’t know if his number was going to be called months ago or Sunday, he had been running through the 49ers’ first-team reps on his own — “on air”— after practices.
Those exercises paid off against the Dolphins.
And that mentality has already paid off, too. Purdy surprisingly made the Niners’ roster to start the season and found himself as the backup after five quarters — and will continue to be valuable for as long as the quarterback is in the league, which might be a long time yet.
“I’ve always believed that I don’t care what slot, what round, what pick that I get picked or if I was undrafted, my whole thing was, man, I just want to go out and, and prove to myself that I can play at this level. And so that’s always been my mentality,” Purdy said.
“Even though I was the last pick, that’s just where I happened to fall in the draft. I’ve embraced the role in terms of having fun with it when I got here… but at the end of the day, for me, it’s like, man, I got an opportunity to come and play for the 49ers and compete, make the team and do what it takes to push these guys in the locker room and win at all costs.”
It all sounds good. We’ll find out on Sunday if his play can match.
And while you don’t have to bet on him, it sure is hard to bet against him.
Source: www.mercurynews.com