San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy is celebrating his 25th birthday, and he has gone through quite a journey over the past couple of years.
He was the “Mr. Irrelevant” of the 2022 NFL Draft as the last player chosen, and was, therefore, an afterthought for the Niners as their third-string quarterback when that season began.
But season-ending injuries to starter Trey Lance and backup Jimmy Garoppolo put Purdy under center, and he was excellent from the start.
Many have taken shots at Purdy and accused him of being an overrated game manager who is barely better than average, but a deeper dive into stats and facts tells a different story.
David Lombardi of The San Francisco Standard posted on X that Purdy’s total passing yards (fourth) and yards per attempt (first) by age 25 rank favorably among some legendary quarterbacks.
Brock Purdy turns 25 today. He has 9,141 passing yards.
Here are some QBs around Purdy on the list of passing yards before Age 25:
Patrick Mahomes: 9,623
Joe Namath: 9,606
Fran Tarkenton: 9,409
Purdy: 9,141
Andrew Luck: 8.566
Ben Roethlisberger: 8,519— David Lombardi (@LombardiHimself) December 27, 2024
On Brock Purdy's 25th birthday, yards per attempt before Age 25 in NFL history:
1. Purdy: 8.8
2. Patrick Mahomes: 8.5
3. Ben Roethlisberger: 8.3
4. Deshaun Watson: 8.1
5. Dan Marino: 8.0— David Lombardi (@LombardiHimself) December 27, 2024
Last season, his first full year as a starter, Purdy was outstanding with 4,280 passing yards and 31 passing touchdowns while completing 69.4 percent of his pass attempts and leading the NFL in passer rating, QBR, touchdown percentage and yards per attempt.
His touchdown percentage, passing accuracy and passing yards per game are down this season, but at least some of that is likely due to the massive injury bug that has afflicted the Niners for many months.
Perhaps with relatively good health throughout their roster and a bit of retooling, Purdy will return to his 2023 form next season and prove that he’s an elite signal-caller.
Of course, the main thing that matters for him and the franchise is winning a sixth Super Bowl championship, which would be its first since the 1994 season.
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