49ers QB Brock Purdy is stronger, faster and better than you think

Brock Purdy’s latest quarterback ranking looks merely respectable — until NFL evaluators explain what makes him special.Critics have long dismissed him as a system quarterback.The numbers turn that accusation on its head: Kyle Shanahan’s offense is elite, and no quarterback has run it better than Purdy.In Mike Sando’s 2026 QB Tiers for The Athletic, Purdy tied Caleb Williams for 11th, climbing three spots from last year.

Of the 50 coaches and executives surveyed, 34 placed him in Tier 2, 15 voted him into Tier 3 and one considered him a Tier 1 quarterback.His 2.28 voting average was the best of his career.That improvement followed an injury-disrupted 2025 season in which toe and shoulder issues limited Purdy to nine games.

He threw for 2,167 yards, 20 touchdowns and 10 interceptions, falling well short of the 4,280 yards and 31 scores he produced in 2023.Evaluators nevertheless saw beyond the uneven season.Their descriptions repeatedly returned to the same theme: Purdy does almost everything better than the eye test initially suggests.

“Stronger than you think.Faster than you think.

Better than you think,” one defensive coach said.Purdy’s first deceptive trait is his anticipation that he uses to carve up defenses.He does not possess the overwhelming arm strength that allows some quarterbacks to wait until a receiver breaks open.

Instead, he identifies leverage and releases the ball before the window fully develops.“He can see it so fast, and he makes quick decisions,” one head coach said.“He’s more athletic than you think.

Really good player.”That processing has translated into elite efficiency.Among quarterbacks with at least 500 regular-season attempts since Purdy entered the league in 2022, he ranks first in EPA per play at 0.179, first in success rate at 52%, first in yards per attempt at 8.64 and first in touchdown rate at 6.21%.Since Purdy became San Francisco’s full-time starter in 2023, the 49ers rank third in offensive EPA p...