Nick Wright still not ready to anoint Brock Purdy after hot start
Nick Wright still not ready to anoint Brock Purdy after hot start originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
Brock Purdy's electric run to begin his NFL career has turned him into quite the polarizing figure, with the 49ers looking like one of the strongest teams in football since he has taken over as the starting quarterback.
Despite the impressive start to his career, the 49ers young quarterback still has yet to quell the doubts of some pundits. Among those is FS1's Nick Wright, who needs to see more from Purdy following the 49ers' win over the New York Giants on "Thursday Night Football."
"Am I allowed to have an opinion that is different than if someone would have if all they had done was they were in a coma, they woke up and read the box scores," Wright said.
"If you had never watched him play and you just read the box scores, you would have an opinion. I put out a very simple test on Twitter yesterday. I said, 'Hey, do me a favor, America'. Get a little sheet of paper, put checkmarks for throws where you go, yikes, that was bad, and checkmarks for throws where you go; wow, that was great. And I ended up doing it, and I came along what I think most people did. About five 'yikes' and two 'wows'."
Purdy's .909 win percentage is the highest in NFL history among quarterbacks, with at least 11 starts. Purdy topped a list that included multiple Hall of Fame quarterbacks and a couple more who are sure-fire bets to be voted in on their first year on the ballot.
Wright argues that there is a common denominator between Purdy and another player on this prestigious list, which should be considered when evaluating the limited sample size through his first 11 starts.
"What you have here is five of the greatest players ever [Patrick Mahomes, Tom Brady, Lamar Jackson, Joe Montana, Peyton Manning], a guy from the CFL [Dieter Brock] who played one year for Eric Dickerson's Rams at 35 years old, also named Brock oddly," Wright said. "And then what do the other two quarterbacks have in common [Purdy and Jimmy Garoppolo]? Is it the strong jawline, the dimpled chin, or is it playing for the Kyle Shanahan 49ers? And is that not possibly slightly dispositive evidence that I should be able to have a larger sample size before I anoint him."
While Shanahan has earned notoriety for his ability to extract efficient play from a wide range of quarterbacks, Purdy has shown a level of consistency that did not exist with any of his predecessors.
The 49ers have scored at least 30 points in seven of the eight regular season games Purdy has started, including all three to start the 2023 season.
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