Pro Football Focus Ranks Brock Purdy the NFL's 13th Best Quarterback

PFF ranks Purdy behind Patrick Mahomes, Lamar Jackson, Joe Burrow, Josh Allen, Justin Herbert, Dak Prescott, Matthew Stafford, Aaron Rodgers, Jalen Hurts, C.J. Stroud, Jordan Love and Trevor Lawrence.

Grant Cohn | May 21, 2024

Feb 11, 2024; Paradise, Nevada, USA; San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy (13) against the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LVIII at Allegiant Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports / Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

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San Francisco 49ers

This seems fair.

Pro Football Focus analyst Trevor Sikemma just ranked all the starting quarterbacks in the NFL from 1 to 32, and 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy finished 13th on his list. Here's what Sikemma wrote:

"I’m fairly comfortable with Purdy's ranking on this list. His consistent success — albeit in a very talented offense — over the past two years should not go unrecognized. His 78.3% adjusted completion rate was a top-five number in 2023, which speaks to his timing and accuracy. And his 5.4% big-time throw percentage shows that, even with below-average arm talent, he is a good enough anticipator to make things happen. Purdy is also a very confident player and pushes the ball, which battles the 'game manager' label he often gets; he’s not just a dink-and-dunk passer. Does he have the athletic talent of some other players? No, but he’s damn good at his job, regardless."
- Trevor Sikkema, PFF Analyst

Sikemma ranks Purdy behind Patrick Mahomes, Lamar Jackson, Joe Burrow, Josh Allen, Justin Herbert, Dak Prescott, Matthew Stafford, Aaron Rodgers, Jalen Hurts, C.J. Stroud, Jordan Love and Trevor Lawrence. Which, again, seems fair. Purdy isn't as physically talented as any of those quarterbacks, so he'll need to play at a high level for longer than a year and a half to break into the top 10.

After Purdy, Sikemma ranks Tua Tagovailoa no. 14 in the NFL. This is another good ranking, because Purdy and Tagovailoa are similar quarterbacks who play in similar offenses, but Purdy is clearly better.

Sikemma's 15th-ranked quarterback is Kirk Cousins. This one is interesting. Last season, Cousins and Purdy faced each other when the Vikings were missing Justin Jefferson and the 49ers were missing Deebo Samuel and Trent Williams. And Cousins was clearly better. Now he's 36 and coming off a torn Achilles, so maybe his performance will take a step back. But until we see that happen, I would rank him ahead of Purdy and Tagovailoa.

Published May 21, 2024

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.