Kyle Shanahan Needs to Give Brock Purdy More Responsibility

Brock Purdy may not be great, but he's very good, and he has earned the right to set his own protections at the line of scrimmage.

Kyle Shanahan is a control freak.

He wants to make as many decisions for his quarterback as he can, which is one reason he doesn't allow his quarterbacks to change the protections at the line of scrimmage. He wants to keep things as simple as possible for his quarterbacks because he hasn't worked with many great ones.

Brock Purdy may not be great, but he's very good, and he has earned the right to set his own protections at the line of scrimmage.

Film guru Rich Madrid points out the Matt LaFleur gives Jordan Love the power to change protections at the line of scrimmage, and LaFleur used to coach under Shanahan in Atlanta and Washington.

This is the one thing I don’t like about Shanahan’s specific style offense. Doesn’t let the QB get them into the right protections. The LaFleur side of the tree (McVay):

Love uses his hard count to get DAL to declare its blitz. Changes the protection, beats cover 0 with a nice… https://t.co/3uqpwrbpd8 pic.twitter.com/YQMtIfvOD5

— Rich (@richjmadrid) April 2, 2024

If Love has the power to change the protections, shouldn't Purdy?

I understand why Shanahan wouldn't trust Jimmy Garoppolo to make any pre-snap decisions. The idea of Garoppolo using a hard count, trying to identify a blitz and then resetting the protections on his own sounds like a recipe for disaster, because he isn't a cerebral quarterback, but Purdy. Purdy is one of the sharpest quarterbacks in the league already. Mentally, he can handle as much as any quarterback in the world.

Putting more on Purdy's plate before the snap only will help the 49ers offense, because he's the smartest player on the offense, and whatever they were doing to pick up blitzes in the Super Bowl wasn't working, because the Chiefs generated nine unblocked rushers in the game.

Get out of the way, Kyle. Let Brock take over.