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49ers QB Brock Purdy Explains Why He's Struggling vs. Man Coverage

Brock Purdy is having a strange season.

Grant Cohn

Oct 10, 2024; Seattle, Washington, USA; San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy (13) looks to pass against the Seattle Seahawks during the second quarter at Lumen Field. Mandatory Credit: Joe Nicholson-Imagn Images
Oct 10, 2024; Seattle, Washington, USA; San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy (13) looks to pass against the Seattle Seahawks during the second quarter at Lumen Field. Mandatory Credit: Joe Nicholson-Imagn Images / Joe Nicholson-Imagn Images
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SANTA CLARA -- Brock Purdy is having a strange season.

When he faces zone coverage, he's the best quarterback in the NFL. His 132.6 passer rating vs. zone ranks no. 1 in the league.

But when he faces man-to-man coverage, he's the worst starting quarterback in the league. His 44.2 passer rating vs. man ranks no. 33 in a league with 32 teams. Not great.

So what is different about Purdy's process versus the the two types of coverages? Why does he dominate versus one and struggle versus the other?

“I would just say man coverage, it depends," Purdy said. "Are they doubling a guy? Are they not? What's the leverage? And then what's our matchup? Is it a linebacker on a tight end or safety on a tight end? There's a lot of things that go into that and what's my best matchup in this situation? Obviously, there's a lot of other things that come into factor with that, with safety leverage and all that kind of stuff, but at the end of the day, man coverage is trying to find your best matchup and a guy that can create separation versus zone coverage you're just trying to be on time and throw to spots and windows. So, I feel like that's like the biggest difference.”

Purdy's answer is fascinating. Against zone coverage, most of the time he can accurately predict where the open window will be and where the ball should go. Against man coverage, he has to look at the matchups before the snap and try to guess which receiver will win. Not easy to do. And this season, the 49ers' receivers haven't created much separation, so sometimes Purdy's best play is to scramble.

The 49ers need to find better answers.

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Grant Cohn
GRANT COHN

Grant Cohn has covered the San Francisco 49ers daily since 2011. He spent the first nine years of his career with the Santa Rosa Press Democrat where he wrote the Inside the 49ers blog and covered famous coaches and athletes such as Jim Harbaugh, Colin Kaepernick and Patrick Willis. In 2012, Inside the 49ers won Sports Blog of the Year from the Peninsula Press Club. In 2020, Cohn joined FanNation and began writing All49ers. In addition, he created a YouTube channel which has become the go-to place on YouTube to consume 49ers content. Cohn's channel typically generates roughly 3.5 million viewers per month, while the 49ers' official YouTube channel generates roughly 1.5 million viewers per month. Cohn live streams almost every day and posts videos hourly during the football season. Cohn is committed to asking the questions that 49ers fans want answered, and providing the most honest and interactive coverage in the country. His loyalty is to the reader and the viewer, not the team or any player or coach. Cohn is a new-age multimedia journalist with an old-school mentality, because his father is Lowell Cohn, the legendary sports columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle from 1979 to 1993. The two have a live podcast every Tuesday. Grant Cohn grew up in Oakland and studied English Literature at UCLA from 2006 to 2010. He currently lives in Oakland with his wife.

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