San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy signed a sizable contact extension last week, and not everyone was convinced his performance justified the hefty price tag that made him the seventh-highest paid quarterback in the NFL on an annual basis. Purdy’s critics are loud and aplenty, but the franchise signal-caller said he mutes most of the opinions from outsides — save for the ones that label him as a “system quarterback,” which he embraced as a compliment rather than a detraction.
The “system quarterback” tag is on par with the “game manager” badge. They are effectively one and the same as backhanded compliments used to describe middle-of-the-road quarterbacks with adequate skills, not elite abilities.
“The whole system quarterback thing, early in my career, it was just funny hearing that,” Purdy said this week in a radio interview. “I’m not going to lie, I took that as I’m a guy that can come in and do what the coach says and win games because of that. So to me, that was more of a compliment, and I sort of ran with that. But outside of that, I don’t buy into really anything that anyone says. That’s been the story of my life, man. From being a late recruit from high school to college to the last draft pick, that’s the story of my life.”
Consternation around Purdy’s massive five-year, $256 million contract extension abounds outside the 49ers organization. Purdy is famous for outperforming expectations, though. The 2022 NFL Draft‘s Mr. Irrelevant proved his tremendous upside in the first year of his starting career when he guided the 49ers to Super Bowl LVIII.
Not only did Purdy nearly hoist the Vince Lombardi Trophy, but he also logged one of the most productive seasons of any offensive player in the NFL during that 2023 season. He paced the league in yards per attempt, touchdown rate and QBR and finished fourth in the MVP race.
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“Everybody has an opinion,” Purdy said. “I’m not going to lie, I laugh at some things that I do hear. Obviously, I don’t tune into to every single opinion or thing. I’m a man of faith, and so for me, I just take it one day at a time. I just walk in the locker room, love on my guys here, walk out to the field and get better and try to find ways to win on Sunday.
“And I’m just grateful for my family and friends. I don’t try to buy into what people think of me and who they say that I am. I know who I am, and I keep my head down and I go to work. But that’s part of the business and the sport that we play. I get that. Everybody has to have a take and an opinion. But that doesn’t determine how I live my life and how I go about my business and win games.”
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