San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan made an attempt to nab legendary New England Patriots and Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady this past offseason.
Had Shanahan been successful, he would have moved current starting quarterback Brock Purdy to the bench. In an article from ESPN, Shanahan told Purdy that this was the only scenario in which he would not be the starter coming into the 2023-2024 season. Purdy understood, but he wasn’t too thrilled about the prospect of sitting on the bench.
“That meant so much to me,” Purdy said. “I remember him saying, if we can get Tom Brady, we’re going to try to get him. And I was like, ‘Yeah, he’s the GOAT. I get it.’ But something deep down inside me was sort of like, ‘Dude, I just showed you that I can play well in this system. And we were one game away from the Super Bowl.’ … More than anything, I was like, ‘OK, now let’s go.'”
Brady’s hometown team was the San Francisco 49ers, and he would’ve been 46-years-old had he decided to play this season. He would’ve continued to be the oldest player in the NFL.
San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy was recovering from an injury, which could’ve played a part in Shanahan trying to get Tom Brady
Other than the acquisition of legendary quarterback Tom Brady, the only thing that could’ve prevented Brock Purdy from being the starter for the San Francisco 49ers starting quarterback was a slow recovery from the reparation of his ulnar collateral ligament.
Purdy injured the ligament in his right elbow in the NFC championship game against the Philadelphia Eagles. He would not return, and the 49ers would end up getting blown out by the Eagles in a 31-7 defeat.
49ers QB Brock Purdy has suffered a torn UCL and will be sidelined for 6 months, per @AdamSchefter.
Purdy sustained the injury in Sunday’s NFC Championship game vs. the Eagles:pic.twitter.com/zuHcvOlGIY
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) January 30, 2023
The loss added more to the competitive streak of Purdy during his revenge tour this season. That streak showed in Purdy’s first preseason game when he threw a game-clinching touchdown against the Green Bay Packers and quarterback Aaron Rodgers. In the same ESPN article, Shanahan explains that he’s grown to like that competitive streak.
“I was like, ‘Dude, what are you doing?'” Shanahan said. “You’re a rookie. You can’t be doing that. What are you talking s— to Aaron? He is like, ‘No dude, I have no idea what happened. I was just excited and out there playing.’ He has a passion to him and a competitiveness and it’s real. And I think he had that right when he got here.”
San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan knew the benefits sitting behind a legendary quarterback like Tom Brady could have for Brock Purdy
Purdy performed up to 49ers standards in the 2023-2024 season, but the method of having a young quarterback sit behind an experienced veteran is something that has proven extremely beneficial for many NFL teams.
Even sitting behind a good-not-great veteran like Alex Smith allowed Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes to light the NFL on fire in his first year as a starter. Mahomes eclipsed the 5,000-yard mark in the passing game and threw for 50 touchdowns and just 12 interceptions during that 2018 season.
The method has also proven beneficial for Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love, just as it did for former quarterback Aaron Rodgers. Love was just a few plays away from defeating Purdy in the 49ers in his first year as a starter, after sitting behind Rodgers for the first part of his career.
Some may argue that Love looked like the better quarterback for the majority of the night, with the exception of the game-sealing Brett Favre-esque interception.
Brock Purdy has about 80 terrible throws in this game: 0 INTs
Jordan Love makes 1 bad throw. 1 INT
Football can be a real b***h sometimes
— ThatsGoodSports (@BrandonPerna) January 21, 2024
Jordan Love was the better Quarterback for 3.5 quarters today, but Brock Purdy was better when it mattered most. pic.twitter.com/LbTcB31zg2
— Ryan G Hensley (@ryanghensley) January 21, 2024
Purdy inarguably has access to much better weapons and a better all-around supporting cast than Love, who was surrounded by the youngest playoff-winning team in NFL history. Regardless, Purdy outplayed Love when it mattered most, and Shanahan’s inability to coax Tom Brady may have been a blessing in disguise for the San Francisco 49ers.
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