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49ers QB Brock Purdy has Improved Dramatically as a Runner

Brock Purdy is having a fascinating season.

Grant Cohn

Oct 27, 2024; Santa Clara, California, USA; San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy (13) spikes the football after scoring the touchdown against the Dallas Cowboys during the third quarter at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Neville E. Guard-Imagn Images
Oct 27, 2024; Santa Clara, California, USA; San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy (13) spikes the football after scoring the touchdown against the Dallas Cowboys during the third quarter at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Neville E. Guard-Imagn Images / Neville E. Guard-Imagn Images
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Brock Purdy is having a fascinating season.

As the NFL's scouting report on Purdy has become more sophisticated, his passing stats have declined and his rushing numbers have improved.

Last season, he led the league with a 113 quarterback rating. This season, his 93.7 rating ranks 16th. He's struggling to pass against man-to-man coverage because he's missing Christian McCaffrey and Brandon Aiyuk, who was not playing well before he injured his knee.

As Purdy searches for ways to beat the book on him, he's scrambling more and more. And this strategy is paying off.

In 16 games last season, Purdy rushed just 39 times for 144 yards (3.7 yards per attempt), 15 first downs and 2 touchdowns. This season through just eight games, Purdy already has rushed 42 times for 210 yards (5.0 yards per attempt), 22 first downs and 3 touchdowns. He's 17 yards away from passing Isaac Guerendo as the team's second-leading rusher behind Jordan Mason.

When the 49ers offense is out of rhythm, its best play often is a Purdy scramble. Teams just don't account for him as a rusher. Or if they do account for him with a spy, which is rare, the spy isn't quick or fast enough to keep up. Purdy is just too elusive.

Purdy needs to continue to scramble when the lanes present themselves because the offense isn't nearly as effective when he stands in the pocket like a robot trying to execute plays exactly as Kyle Shanahan drew them up.

The 49ers need Purdy to be a playmaker.

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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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