All 49ers

Comparing Brock Purdy and Jalen Hurts

Purdy clearly is a better passer than Hurts. Just look at their passing stats.
Grant Cohn|
Comparing Brock Purdy and Jalen Hurts
Comparing Brock Purdy and Jalen Hurts

In this story:

San Francisco 49ers

Brock Purdy and Jalen Hurts are two of the most successful quarterbacks in the league and they'll face each other this Sunday. Let's compare them.

Purdy's record as an NFL starter is 13-3, which is incredible, while Hurts is 27-2 in his past 29 starts, which is so good it's hard to wrap your head around. Both quarterbacks are perfect fits for their respective teams' systems.

Purdy clearly is a better passer than Hurts. Just look at their passing stats. Purdy's are better across the board. This season, his completion percentage is 70.2, he has thrown 19 touchdowns and 6 interceptions, he's averaging 9.4 yards per pass attempt and his quarterback rating is a league-leading 112.4. Meanwhile, Hurts' completion percentage is 67.6, he has tossed 18 touchdown passes and 10 picks, he's averaging 7.5 yards per pass attempt and his quarterback rating is 94.9. Advantage: Purdy.

But Hurts is a much more prolific runner, which is saying something because Purdy is a good scrambler. He has 122 rushing yards, 12 rushing first downs and 2 rushing touchdowns this season. Good numbers. 

But Hurts has 410 rushing yards, 49 rushing first downs and 11 rushing touchdowns -- the same number as Christian McCaffrey. Only Raheem Mostert has more rushing touchdowns with 13. Which means Hurts has scored a whopping 29 touchdowns so far this season, while Purdy has scored 21. Advantage: Hurts.

In addition, Hurts has led four game-winning drives this season, while Purdy has led just one in his entire career. Advantage: Hurts.

Hurts is more battle-tested than Purdy, but does that mean Hurts will beat Purdy on Sunday? We'll find out soon enough.

Published
Grant Cohn
GRANT COHN

Grant Cohn has covered the San Francisco 49ers daily since 2011. He spent the first nine years of his career with the Santa Rosa Press Democrat where he wrote the Inside the 49ers blog and covered famous coaches and athletes such as Jim Harbaugh, Colin Kaepernick and Patrick Willis. In 2012, Inside the 49ers won Sports Blog of the Year from the Peninsula Press Club. In 2020, Cohn joined FanNation and began writing All49ers. In addition, he created a YouTube channel which has become the go-to place on YouTube to consume 49ers content. Cohn's channel typically generates roughly 3.5 million viewers per month, while the 49ers' official YouTube channel generates roughly 1.5 million viewers per month. Cohn live streams almost every day and posts videos hourly during the football season. Cohn is committed to asking the questions that 49ers fans want answered, and providing the most honest and interactive coverage in the country. His loyalty is to the reader and the viewer, not the team or any player or coach. Cohn is a new-age multimedia journalist with an old-school mentality, because his father is Lowell Cohn, the legendary sports columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle from 1979 to 1993. The two have a live podcast every Tuesday. Grant Cohn grew up in Oakland and studied English Literature at UCLA from 2006 to 2010. He currently lives in Oakland with his wife.

Share on XFollow grantcohn
Home/News