Brock Purdy Faces the Biggest Prove It Season in 49ers History

Illustration by Peter Townsend

Two years on from Super Bowl LVIII, Brock Purdy has more to prove.

Brock Purdy. The San Francisco 49ers quarterback was the last pick in the 2022 NFL Draft, and he found himself leading the Niners to the Super Bowl just two seasons later. Just to put this into context, Purdy is the first player who has been selected as the last pick to make the Pro Bowl since Philadelphia Eagles fullback Jacque MacKinnon achieved the same feat back in 1961. There’s a reason players selected at this phase in the draft are usually deemed “Mr. Irrelevant.” There have been Mr. Irrelevants that have gone on to win the Super Bowl, but a quarterback has never done so. With Brock Purdy’s Pro Bowl selection during his sophomore season in 2023, not only did he achieve something that hadn’t been done since The Kennedy Presidency, but he knocked on the door of something that had never been done before- a Mr. Irrelevant quarterback winning the Super Bowl. It’s easy to get caught up in all the headlines and excitement of Purdy, but once you put it into context, you realize how much deeper it really is.

After just falling short of Super Bowl glory at the hands of the Kansas City Chiefs, Purdy and the 49ers endured a 2024 campaign that wasn’t expected by many. The Niners ended up going 6-11, and falling short of a playoff berth for the first time since 2020. However, you can’t look at the results of last season for the San Francisco 49ers without realizing the full scope of their injury report over the course of the season. RB1 Christian McCaffery, who led the league in rushing yards in the 2023 season, missed the first 8 games of the season with bilateral achilles tendinitis, and only played 4 games before straining his PCL against the Bills, which left him sidelined for the remainder of the season. WR1 Brandon Aiyuk was dealt a season ending injury 7 games into the season, and TE George Kittle was touch and go with a nagging hamstring injury throughout the course of the season. On defense, primary tackle Trent Williams, primary guard Aaron Banks, and primary edge Nick Bosa missed a combined sixteen games throughout the course of the 2024 campaign. Purdy himself injured his right shoulder during the Niners Week 11 clash with the Seattle Seahawks, and spent the rest of the season either sidelined, or playing through injury.

It’s easy to use injuries as a scapegoat. But injuries aren’t an excuse for the shortcomings of the San Francisco 49ers in the 2024 season, but rather an explanation for a plague of chaos that completely derailed what could’ve been an otherwise successful season. Niners fans will be hoping that 2024 was a write-off, and that a healthy squad is all they need to bounce back this upcoming season. So, I guess that explains why I’m writing an article about Brock Purdy in the big 2025, as well as beg the question: is this season the Niners chance to finally build on the successes of making Super Bowl LVIII?

Brandom Aiyuk still looks unlikely to play Week 1, but the rest of the 49ers core are ready to go as of now. Not having your WR1 is never ideal, but the Niners injuries was never about missing one key player, but rather the fact it was very rare that all their key players were healthy at the same time. And as successful as the 2023 season was, it was two years ago. A healthy roster would be all Niners fans would be hoping for ahead of the upcoming season, but they also know they need to make some roster moves. Nick Bosa is very much the face of the 49ers defense, but bringing in roster depth in the defensive line as well as bringing in new safeties and cornerbacks will have their defense better prepared in the case of more injury catastrophe. Likewise on the other side of the ball, the Niners have brought in wide receiver Equanimeous St. Brown, likely in preparation for a touch and go season for Brandon Aiyuk. They’ve also brought in running back Ke’Shawn Vaughn, as well as quarterback Tanner Mordecai. The San Francisco 49ers organization are aware of what a healthy roster is capable of doing, and they’ve been making moves to ensure they take full advantage.

Now, I guess it’s time to bring this all back to Purdy. The Iowa State alumni will turn 26 in December, and already has 64 career touchdowns as well as 9,518 passing yards to his name. Last season, when he was without his main offensive weapons, and missed two whole games himself, he still managed 20 touchdowns, as well as 3,864 passing yards, which ranked top 10 amongst all NFL QBs last season, and more than the likes of Matthew Stafford, eventual MVP Josh Allen, Jayden Daniels, and eventual Super Bowl champion Jalen Hurts. There’s been certain suggestions over the last year that Brock Purdy is a system quarterback, but don’t get it twisted- with the right weapons, there’s no reason Purdy can be anything short of exceptional. His rookie season saw him play only nine games, and last year saw pretty much his entire offensive and defensive core fall to injury. Purdy may have not had a very conventional career so far, but there’s really nothing conventional about Mr. Irrelevant making to the Super Bowl in their second season.

The last time the 49ers didn’t make the playoffs was in 2020, and the season before, they lost to the Chiefs in the Super Bowl. The next season, they went on to make the NFC Championship, as well as clinch a playoff berth the next two seasons. The 49ers have been in this exact same position before. They bounced back then, and they’re looking to bounce back again now. If the Niners are willing to make the right moves, then there’s zero reason as to why Purdy won’t be able to rise to the occasion. There may be some people writing them off, but that isn’t something that Brock “Mr. Relevant” Purdy isn’t used to.