49ers Brock Purdy making strong case as dark-horse MVP candidate

SANTA CLARA — Fred Warner gets credit for being the first one to say it.If Brock Purdy and the 49ers keep this up, he won’t be the last.“MVP Brock Purdy” the linebacker said to start his news conference following the Niners’ 35-13 thrashing of the Dolphins on Sunday to improve to an emphatic 2-0.To call Purdy’s performance in the win MVP-caliber might be selling it short.A few select nuggets that stand out from Purdy’s near-perfect Sunday:A day later, coach Kyle Shanahan had gotten a chance to review the tape.It was just as impressive as it was in real time.“He was almost flawless,” Shanahan marveled.“His last play was probably his only miss, on the intentional grounding.

Without that, he was pretty much perfect.He had an unbelievable game.”Four years earlier, Purdy introduced himself to the league against the same foe and was so impressive from the get-go that Shanahan said it can be difficult to evaluate how he’s grown.But through two weeks this season, Purdy has shown that while he may be the perfect quarterback for Shanahan’s offensive system, he is not a system quarterback.He’s a weapon unto himself.

A playmaker in his own right.A real, legitimate MVP candidate.“We’re starting to witness Brock’s prime, and I think it’s going to be a sight to behold,” left tackle Trent Williams said.

“I’ve always loved Brock, but I think he’s starting to get his respect now.”Really, the only quarterbacks worthy of being in the conversation with Purdy after two weeks already have hardware: the Bills’ Josh Allen and the Chiefs’ Patrick Mahomes.They’re the only others to lead their teams to undefeated starts to the season and looked as good getting them there.*= would be NFL recordThe NFL MVP is basically the best QB on a playoff team — the last time a player at any other position won it was Adrian Peterson in 2012 — and Purdy has as strong an argument as anyone else.He’s completed 80.4% of his 56 pass attempts so far, w...