Why Brock Purdy's Transition from College to the NFL has Seemed So Easy

Clearly, Purdy is on a stacked team -- maybe the best one in the NFL. That helps. But it's important to remember where he came from.

Grant Cohn | Jan 7, 2023

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San Francisco 49ers

Rookie quarterbacks aren't supposed to play this well.

Rookie quarterbacks are supposed to go through growing pains and a learning curve -- that's what we've been led to believe. But so far, Brock Purdy has gone through neither. He's undefeated, and he seems better in the NFL than he did at Iowa State.

How is this possible?

Look at all the quarterbacks who were drafted in Round 1 of the 2021 draft: Trevor Lawrence, Zach Wilson, Trey Lance, Justin Fields and Mac Jones. All five have struggled and gone through major adversity early in their careers. So what makes Purdy different?

Most of the players on the 49ers point to Purdy's experience -- he was a four-year starter who threw a whopping 1,467 passes in college. Most draft-eligible quarterbacks don't enter the NFL with that many live reps.

But there have been many four-year starters in college who haven't had nearly the success Purdy has had. So what's unique about him?

Clearly, Purdy is on a stacked team -- maybe the best one in the NFL. That helps. But it's important to remember where he came from. Purdy went to Iowa State, which is hardly an NCAA powerhouse. It's just another school in the Big 12. Sometimes it has a talent advantage over its opponent, and sometimes it does not. And yet Purdy still managed to play well and win there.

Now he has a talent advantage every week. Not only does he have the best group of weapons and the best left tackle in the league, he has the best defense, too. Suddenly, it's like he's playing at the University of Georgia. The NFL game must feel easier for Purdy than the college game did, because at Iowa State the best teammate he had on offense was running back Breece Hall, who's outstanding. But Purdy didn't play with elite receivers in college. Now he has two elite wide receivers (when healthy), an elite tight end and the best pass-catching running back in the world.

Life must feel pretty good for the Purd Man.

Published Jan 7, 2023

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.