Brock Purdy reached Super Bowl in second year. Joe Montana, Steve Young never made it that soon

Brock Purdy is the starting quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl LVIII.

In other words, the 24-year-old is a pretty relevant guy these days.

So is Purdy ready to ditch the nickname he shares with every other guy who has the dubious distinction of being the very last player selected in the NFL draft in a given year?

“Do I think it’s time to pick a new nickname?” Purdy said in response to a reporter’s question Monday during Super Bowl opening night at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas. “I’m OK with Mr. Irrelevant. It’s all good.”

Purdy played four years at Iowa State, where he passed for 12,170 yards and 81 touchdowns — both school records — with only 33 passes intercepted, which isn’t even in the top five for most-ever at the school. Yet, he was still available in the seventh round of the 2022 draft, and the 49ers took him with the 262nd and final pick.

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In two seasons, Purdy has played in 25 regular season games and is 17-4 as a starter. He has completed 69% of his passes for 5,654 yards with 44 touchdowns and 15 interceptions. He’s also 4-1 in the playoffs, completing 63% of his passes for 1,088 yards with five touchdowns and one interception.

By comparison …

Hall of Fame 49ers quarterback Joe Montana was 2-6 as a starter in his first two seasons, completing 64% of his passes for 1,891 yards with 16 touchdowns and nine interceptions. But he was 13-3 as the full-time starter in his third season (1981), completing 64% of his passes for 3,565 yards with 19 touchdowns and 12 interceptions. In the playoffs that year, he went 3-0 while completing 64% of his passes for 747 yards with six touchdowns and four interceptions and winning the first of four Super Bowls with the 49ers.

The 49ers’ other Hall of Fame quarterback, Steve Young, spent his first two seasons with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, compiling a 3-16 record while completing 53% of his passes for 3,217 yards…


Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/brock-purdy-reached-super-bowl-221212795.html

Author : LA Times

Publish date : 2024-02-06 22:12:12

Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.

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