Brock Purdy was ready for Tom Brady; now he’s ready to fulfill his 49ers destiny

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Brock Purdy wants to get the first down. Win the game. Be there for his teammates. Stay focused. Answer questions in public as thoughtfully as possible, without giving too much away or falling into rhetorical extravaganzas. Then move on to the next play or game or interview or practice.

He’s reliably rational, humble, and 100 percent focused on the immediate task at hand. He’s not emotionless, but you can’t always see the more colorful edges of his competitive drive. Except when he’s celebrating a big touchdown or fuming over a botched play, Purdy can sometimes resemble a quarterback cypher. Or a Kyle Shanahan robot.

But Purdy is also, of course, a fierce competitor with an independent streak. He wouldn’t have come out of the last pick in the 2022 draft to outlast and completely outplay Jimmy Garoppolo and Trey Lance for the 49ers if he hadn’t been a fighter. Purdy wouldn’t have made it through major elbow surgery last March, through training camp last year, and through the entire season to overtime in the Super Bowl if he hadn’t been stubborn and proud. And Purdy wouldn’t have shrugged off Kyle Shanahan’s attempt to sign Tom Brady in March 2023 — just as Purdy was about to undergo that surgery — if he hadn’t been so tough, so confident, so determined to win no matter what.

At the time, he was injured. He had had only a partially successful season. No one knew if he would make it to training camp or even Week 1 of the 2023 regular season. Shanahan wanted to sign Brady to a one-year deal and give Purdy a full season to recover and be ready to start in 2024. Purdy understood what Shanahan was doing. But when I asked him about the situation after practice Monday, Purdy revealed an illuminating glimpse of the nervousness driving it.

“I totally understood that Kyle and the team needed a quarterback for next season,” Purdy told me. “So when he said, ‘Tom Brady,’ I thought, ‘OK, that’s cool for you as a head coach and for a team, to bring in the greatest of all time.

“But a little bit of me thought, ‘OK, I just proved that I’ve beaten this guy this past year and that I’m good enough to lead our team to, at that point, the NFC Championship (Game). You know, I can obviously be the guy for this organization. … But given the circumstances of me being injured and having some uncertainty at the quarterback position, I understand why he would have that as a thought.'”

There’s the rationality. The calm logic. But also the fire. Hey, remember when Purdy made his first career NFL start as a rookie (replacing an injured Garoppolo, who had replaced an injured Lance months earlier) and beat Brady’s Buccaneers, 35-7? Yeah, Purdy remembers.

Another very important part of the most important relationship in 49ersland these days: Shanahan knew Purdy was wise enough to understand the thinking behind it, but wasn’t happy with the attempt to sign Brady (who decided to retire). And the coach appreciated Purdy’s layered response. The fire, too. Last week, Shanahan told me that the Brady pursuit was also a compliment to Purdy — he knew Purdy was tough enough not to be broken by it, and Shanahan also told him that only the best QB of this era could be an alternative option.

“Yeah, I get it,” Purdy said. “(Shanahan) said, we’re going to bring him in and you can heal up and then learn from the greatest of all time and then be the guy that comes next. So I get the compliment, but at the same time, man, I’m ready to play now and help this team win. So there’s definitely two sides to it.”

There’s no need for layers or multiple sides now. Last season, Purdy broke the franchise record for passing yards (4,280), led the league in passer rating (113.0), threw 31 touchdown passes and had the 49ers within a play or two of beating the Chiefs in Super Bowl 58. And this offseason, instead of undergoing a rigorous elbow rehab, Purdy got married and threw himself into life as an established NFL QB1.

But Purdy now admits that while he was back in time for the start of last year’s training camp and played the entire season, he still underwent a minor elbow rehab in the fall.

“I was just doing extra arm care work on my arm,” Purdy said. “… Early in the season I just (had to) keep working on my arm more and more to make it feel better. I think when we had that week off (in Week 10, early November) and I rested my arm for a week and then came back, I felt so much better. It was five, six months, seven months of just grinding straight through, rehab on my arm.”

Brock Purdy returned from elbow surgery last season to lead the 49ers to overtime in Super Bowl LVIII against the Chiefs. (Nick Tre. Smith / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

Which naturally makes you wonder what kind of numbers — and how many 49ers wins — Purdy and this offense can put up this season. Maybe enough to make those two extra plays and win this era’s Super Bowl? Things have been a bit out of whack for the 49ers’ offense in the early stages of training camp, with Trent Williams holding back, Brandon Aiyuk holding back and the coaching staff making sure not to overtax key veterans Christian McCaffrey, George Kittle and Kyle Juszczyk.

But as the 49ers’ management grapples with the financial pressure and plans to extend this potential Super Bowl window into the late 2020s, much of the attention has been focused on Purdy, the best QB of the Shanahan era, who is set for a massive pay raise next season. He’s making $985,000 this season. If Purdy’s 2024 performance is anything like his 2023, he’ll be worth as much or more than the $50 million-per-year or more deals recently signed by Green Bay’s Jordan Love and Miami’s Tua Tagovailoa. That’s not life-changing money coming from Purdy’s current salary. That’s life-changing money from everyone in your family.

“Obviously, yeah, if you play well and you do well for a long time, you get rewarded for that and you get paid,” Purdy said. “Just the nature of the sport and the position that I play, it’s a little bit more than what maybe others make. But that’s what it is. And that comes when it comes.

“But for me, in year three, dude, I still feel young and I still feel like I’m growing, both physically and mentally and with this game and this offense. Shanahan and (QB coach Brian) Griese, they keep learning from these guys. And I can’t just let off the gas pedal and think … I might make money if this all goes well. I’ve got to be better today and that’s what my mindset is for.”

Here are a few more highlights from our conversation:

• Will Purdy have more freedom to change pass protections or play calls now that he’s been playing and excelling in Shanahan’s system for several seasons? Shanahan told me last week that all of his QBs have the right to change plays and protections at the line, but that the system is also designed to make those things relatively automatic. Purdy said he might make some changes, especially in late-game situations. But every Shanahan QB knows that if he does, he better do it right.

“There’s a fine line,” Purdy said. “I’m not going to walk away from this year and say, ‘OK, I’ve played enough football, I’m just going to call my own shots and Kyle’s going to trust me 100 percent.’ No. I still have to learn and believe and trust that what he’s saying is right. And I’m going to play within that system and if I ever see something, I can do it. But I’ve got to be able to come back to the sideline and tell him why I did it.”

• When asked last week if there were any specific plays he regretted from the Super Bowl, Purdy was quick to name a third-down incomplete under pressure near the end of regulation and the infamous tipped pass on third down on the 49ers’ lone possession of overtime. I asked Purdy if going over those plays with Shanahan a few weeks later was painful at all.

“It hurt a little bit because we all know the end result, which was a little disappointing,” Purdy said. “But I think it was more encouraging knowing that this was my second year in the NFL, we were on the biggest stage, and I could have done a better job. Or made the right plays. I made those plays. Those are confidence boosters that I can continue to build on. So it’s back and forth.

“If you look at the bigger picture, I played in a Super Bowl last year, coming off a UCL. There was a lot of grinding and mental stuff that I went through last year, and to be able to learn from plays in the Super Bowl? That’s pretty special. Not a lot of guys get to experience that. Whether you did well or poorly, there’s not a lot of guys that got to that moment and learned from it. I’m very thankful that I was able to play in those moments. And now I’ve got to learn from them.”

• It makes sense, Purdy said, that he’s taken on a bigger leadership role as he enters his second full season as the starting quarterback. His teammates have seen him through tough times. They’ve won with him.

“I think we need guys that are able to step up and speak up at certain points,” Purdy said. “But most importantly, go out there and prove it through your play and your actions. You have guys like George and Christian, Deebo (Samuel) … guys that come in every day, do the right things every time. And you become a leader. You become a guy that guys look up to and look to when things get tough.

“So for me, going into year 3, I’m ready for that role. It’s not like I came in and thought, ‘Okay, year 3, it’s my third year playing here, now this is my responsibility.’ No, it’s something that’s come over time. I think I’ve earned the respect of the guys here by the things I’ve done, just by how I carry myself in a humble way. It just came naturally.

“For me it doesn’t mean changing or being a rah-rah guy. But being myself and being that competitive guy that’s natural, and men want to follow that and compete with that.”

(Photo: AP Photo/Eakin Howard)