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Grading 49ers Quarterback Brock Purdy at the Bye Week

For the first time in his career, things haven't been so easy for him.

Grant Cohn

Oct 10, 2024; Seattle, Washington, USA; San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy (13) rushes with Seattle Seahawks defensive end Leonard Williams (99) in pursuit during the first quarter at Lumen Field. Mandatory Credit: Joe Nicholson-Imagn Images
Oct 10, 2024; Seattle, Washington, USA; San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy (13) rushes with Seattle Seahawks defensive end Leonard Williams (99) in pursuit during the first quarter at Lumen Field. Mandatory Credit: Joe Nicholson-Imagn Images / Joe Nicholson-Imagn Images
In this story:

The 49ers have the week off, so let's grade them position by position based solely on what they've done this season, and let's start with the quarterback.

POSITION: Quarterback

NAME: Brock Purdy

GRADE: B-Plus

COMMENTS: For the first time in his career, things haven't been so easy for him. Christian McCaffrey hasn't played a snap yet and Brandon Aiyuk recently tore his knee. Suddenly, the windows are smaller. And the book on Purdy is more sophisticated because he's in his third season as a starter. So he's seeing much more man-to-man coverage than he did in the past because everyone knows he shreds zone coverage. To his credit, he's finding ways to beat man coverage, mostly by scrambling -- he has evolved into an incredibly aggressive runner when given a lane. And he almost never takes a hit when he runs. So the more he scrambles, the better.

But as a passer, he's having a decidedly mediocre season. Through eight games, he has 10 touchdown passes and 7 interceptions -- those are Jimmy Garoppolo numbers. It's important to remember that Garoppolo's performance deteriorated consistently after he lost the Super Bowl with the 49ers. Is the same thing happening to Purdy? Is the league catching up to him?

We know that Purdy is a harder worker and a better athlete than Garoppolo, but is he a better passer than him? Or will Purdy's limitations against man coverage ultimately cap his potential?

We'll find out.

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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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