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Is 49ers Quarterback Brock Purdy Regressing?

Since Christmas night, Purdy's win-loss record is 8-7.

Grant Cohn

November 17, 2024; Santa Clara, California, USA; San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy (13) runs the football against the Seattle Seahawks during the first quarter at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-Imagn Images
November 17, 2024; Santa Clara, California, USA; San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy (13) runs the football against the Seattle Seahawks during the first quarter at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-Imagn Images / Kyle Terada-Imagn Images
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Brock Purdy had one of the most impressive starts to a career of any quarterback ever. But for the past 11 months, he has been anything but great.

When he burst onto the scene, teams couldn't stop him and the 49ers offense. He won 18 of his first 22 starts and his quarterback rating was 116.2. He seemed like a phenomenon or a superhero.

And then he faced the Baltimore Ravens on Christmas night. This was supposed to be Purdy's coronation as the MVP of the NFL. But he threw four interceptions and he lost. And since then, he hasn't been the dominant quarterback we came to know.

Since Christmas night, Purdy's win-loss record is 8-7, his completion percentage is 65 and his passer rating is 91.5. That's as average as it gets. Keep in mind, the NFL average completion percentage this season is 65.4, and the league average passer rating this season is 91.6.

Purdy is a terrific scrambler and an excellent competitor. But when it comes to throwing the ball, there's nothing special about him. He's not overwhelmingly accurate nor does he have a strong arm. And that's why he was the last pick in the draft.

Now defenses have caught up to the way Kyle Shanahan uses Purdy and they know what to expect. Which means Purdy and Shanahan have to evolve. Otherwise, the 49ers will make Purdy one of the highest-paid players in the league next offseason just to get league-average efficiency. That would be a bad investment.

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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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