Brock Purdy has "Earned a lot of Trust" With Kyle Shanahan

Handing the keys to the franchise to a quarterback with only seven career starts is a gamble.

That is exactly what the San Francisco 49ers did with Brock Purdy. However, it wasn't much of a gamble as it may seem. In the seven starts that Purdy played in, he easily aided in elevating the 49ers' offense. The word I have been using is "optimizing" the offense. All of the renowned talent in the offense can be fully if not nearly utilized now with Purdy as the starter.

Really, the only gamble the 49ers were making with Purdy was with his elbow injury. So far, it looks clear that it is a non-issue as he is truly the "real deal" that Shanahan exclaimed about back in August. Because of that, Purdy has earned a lot of trust with Shanahan by giving the offense some stability and optimization at the quarterback position.

"Brock, when he came in last year, you're not sure," said Shanahan. "You know how he is in practice. We knew he had an opportunity, a chance to be like that. But those seven games last year that he played in, you knew it pretty well. He earned a lot of trust with me, earned a lot of trust with the players. Going into the offseason, how he handled his injury, how he just handled himself when he wasn't able to practice, just in the meeting rooms and everything. And through every experience with him in games this year, he has earned as much trust as you could have in a quarterback.”

Purdy has been impressive this season, especially when you consider that he hardly had any time to work on his flaws. His entire offseason was based on rehab and resting his elbow following his surgery in early March. The fact that he looks the same, if not better, than when he left off of last season is incredible. Now, the hope is that his arrow continues pointing up. Purdy is coming off by far the worst game of his career in the 49ers' loss to the Cleveland Browns.

The Browns may have provided a blueprint into slowing Purdy down, but I don't think that is possible or at least it won't easy for other teams. Cleveland successfully threw Purdy off because they have the talent and scheme to operate man-to-man coverage at an elite level. The vast majority of defenses in the NFL cannot replicate that since they do not have those ingredients like the Browns do. Plus, Purdy looked more off because of his inability that game than what the Browns did.

Trust is something that isn't given so easily by Shanahan, but it's clear with Purdy that he has it with how he calls the offense and named him the starter for 2023. It is something that he is looking like a genius for.