ESPN Says 49ers QB Brock Purdy is NFL's Most Underrrated Quarterback

For years, Brock Purdy was the NFL's most underpaid player.

Sep 29, 2024; Santa Clara, California, USA; San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy (13) throws a pass against the New England Patriots during the third quarter at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Sergio Estrada-Imagn Images | Sergio Estrada-Imagn Images

For years, Brock Purdy was the NFL's most underpaid player.

Now, he just signed a five-year, $265 million contract that will pay him $115 million during the first two seasons, so it's hard to call him underpaid anymore. Instead, ESPN's Aaron Schatz has named Purdy the NFL's most underrated quarterback heading into the 2025 season.

"Many claimed Purdy wasn't a legit MVP candidate in 2023 because he received too much help from San Francisco's offensive scheme and his talented teammates," writes Schatz. "Yet in 2024, while many of Purdy's teammates were injured, he still played very well.

"One area of outside help is the tremendous yards-after-catch production of the Kyle Shanahan offense. I have a model for YAC over expectation based on the air yards and location of each pass: The 49ers led the NFL in this metric for six straight years from 2018 through 2023, but they dropped to sixth last season. Purdy's overall numbers were strong anyway.

"Overall, Purdy performs well in metrics that try to separate a quarterback from his receivers and his blocking. For example, Purdy was seventh in the NFL with a 67.9 QBR for the 2024 season. Kevin Cole's adjusted quarterback efficiency, which attempts to adjust for everything from yards after the catch to dropped passes, had Purdy seventh in value per play (ninth in total value). And Purdy was fourth in Ben Baldwin's adjusted EPA per play (which also has adjustments for pass protection).

"Does Purdy's huge contract extension mean he is no longer underrated? On the contrary, some of the criticism of the extension suggests people don't understand how much better Purdy has been compared to the other Shanahan quarterbacks in San Francisco."

Schatz makes a strong argument, but he doesn't mention that Purdy threw more interceptions than touchdown passes in the second halves of games last season. That's a big reason the 49ers lost all but one close game they were in. He made bad decisions and bad throws in crucial moments.

And if we're judging whose most underrated purely based on QBR and adjusted EPA per play, why not Jordan Love? He ranked fourth in QBR and sixth in adjusted EPA per play last season. And yet, most analysts think Purdy is better than him simply because Purdy has gone to the Super Bowl and Love hasn't.

Unfortunately for Purdy, Jimmy Garoppolo also went to the Super Bowl with the 49ers.