How Brock Purdy Changed how Teams Draft Quarterbacks
Brock Purdy has forced teams to completely reevaluate how they evaluate college quarterbacks. The entire NFL has changed because of him. And the 49ers spearheaded this change, but only by accident.
The 49ers didn't draft Purdy to play him -- they drafted him to back up Trey Lance. And Lance represents the old way of evaluating and developing young quarterbacks.
Lance has lots of talent -- he's big, fast, strong and smart. He has all the tools, but he hasn't put them together yet because he didn't play much in college. For decades, teams drafted players like Lance extremely high, sat them on the bench for a couple years and prayed for the best. This method didn't always yield great results, as the 49ers learned the hard way with Lance.
Trading up for highly talented yet inexperienced college quarterbacks is extremely risky, but that's exactly what the 49ers did with Lance. And that blunder might have cost everyone their jobs if they hadn't lucked into getting Purdy.
Purdy is the opposite of Lance. Purdy doesn't have much "talent" -- he's small and his arm isn't strong. But he's extremely skilled and advanced at the position because he started four years in college. And he's cheap because he was a seventh-round pick. So he's ready to play and he costs next to nothing. As opposed to Lance, who was expensive and green and needed development the 49ers never gave him.
Now, other teams have realized it's much easier and less risky to draft an experienced, advanced quarterback in the later rounds who can play right away than to trade up for a talented quarterback who's not ready to play. Bad news for the next Trey Lance.
Teams also have realized it's better to play a young, cheap quarterback like Purdy than to pay $30 million per season for a mediocre veteran. Bad news for the next Jimmy Garoppolo.
Purdy has completely changed the market at the most important position in sports. That's his biggest legacy right now.