San Francisco 49ers QB Brock Purdy often receives less praise from the media than he is supposed to. Everyone points out the quality of players around him, but not many mention that he is the quarterback who has had the most success with that group.
However, if Purdy fails to play well in a game and the 49ers lose, critics loudly bash the 24-year-old and raise doubts about whether the franchise should pay him next year.
The same does not happen with C.J. Stroud, however, who hasn’t played well this year and struggled massively against the New York Jets on Thursday Night Football. Stroud was given a pass because Stefon Diggs and Nico Collins were unavailable, but 49ers insider David Lombardi is unhappy with the narratives used against Purdy and not for other young quarterbacks.
David Lombardi Defends Brock Purdy From Biased Critics
In a video posted by Lombardi on his X account, he mentioned how different the criticism has been for Stroud compared to Purdy. Lombardi also pointed out that the Texans quarterback should be held to a higher standard than the 49ers QB since the former was the No. 2 overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft.
“Seems to me already that Stroud is getting a bit of a pass for not just that bad performance, but for four straight bad to mediocre games,” said Lombardi. “While Brock Purdy struggles to get a pass from some people for just one bad game, and Purdy has not had more than one consecutive bad game in his entire career.”
“Hopefully, the reception for C.J. Stroud matches the reception for Brock Purdy’s bad game. That’s all I’m saying … If you’re going to be picking and choosing, maybe pick and choose the ones who cost a lot of draft capital to hold to the higher standard versus the one that cost hardly any draft capital who’s only making what $985,000 this year. I think that’d be a more fair way to do it.”
Just hold Brock Purdy and CJ Stroud to the same standard. It shouldn’t be hard pic.twitter.com/P1KuMajRTH
— David Lombardi (@LombardiHimself) November 1, 2024
In the 21-13 loss to the Jets, Stroud threw for 191 yards with no touchdowns and completed only 11 of 30 of his throws. He has failed to build on a historic rookie season but is yet to be criticized by the analysts.
Purdy, on the other hand, has played this season without the majority of his supporting cast yet has played at a similar level to Stroud. Both Stroud and Purdy are good quarterbacks, but expectations should be much higher on the Ohio State product, given that he was already considered a top-five quarterback in the league heading into this season by many.
Purdy and 49ers Well-Positioned To Win NFC West
Christian McCaffrey has yet to make his season debut, and Brandon Aiyuk has already been ruled out for the season due to an ACL injury. Despite all that, the 49ers are 4-4 and have the joint-best record in the NFC West.
San Francisco has a bye in Week 9, and McCaffrey could potentially play next week against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Despite the injuries, San Francisco still has enough firepower to win the division and make the playoffs.
Purdy knows that he needs to play well in order to get a lucrative extension next year. Getting McCaffrey back will be a huge boost for him and the team. In 24 games with the star running back on the field, Purdy is 19-5 and has thrown for 5,654 yards, 44 touchdowns, and 15 interceptions, completing 68.7% of his throws with a passer rating of 111.4.
Although the Detroit Lions and Green Bay Packers have been the two best teams in the NFC this year, the 49ers’ experience makes them a big threat come playoff time. Hopefully, the rest of their players can stay healthy for the remainder of the season, as they are still a Super Bowl contender.
Where do Brock Purdy and C.J. Stroud Rank in PFN’s QB Metrics?
Brock Purdy
Purdy is the No. 7 overall quarterback in the 2024 PFN+ Metrics. Despite numerous injuries to his supporting class, Purdy has performed at a high level despite sub-par feelings.
Brock Purdy’s 2024 season has felt disappointing because of how well he performed in his first two seasons. He posted an A- grade last year and, had he qualified in 2022, was on pace to do even better as a rookie.
Purdy is still a top-10 performing quarterback who has only produced one QB+ result below a B-, which happened to be in the most high-profile game he has played this season.
Brock Purdy called out to @gkittle46 mid play and then said hi to mom 😂 @49ers pic.twitter.com/9iz0GgavFH
— NFL (@NFL) October 2, 2024
Purdy is seventh when throwing under pressure and in third-down conversions. Additionally, he’s second this year in nYPA (8.4), posting the fifth-best number in our database, which is 0.9 yards per attempt behind the top number he posted last year.
The biggest area of regression for Purdy has been passing from a clean pocket. When we look at the entirety of our database back to 2019, he posted the top 25 numbers in that area in the last two seasons combined, but he is now outside of the top 125 of 256 qualified quarterbacks since 2019.
His performances in clutch situations overall have also dropped off this season, while Purdy’s numbers in close fourth-quarter games have ticked up a little.
C.J. Stroud
Per PFN metrics, Stroud is indeed struggling this season. He has slipped from ranking fifth in QB+ last year to 18th this year. His metrics are a little different from Love’s, who are all or nothing, with Stroud largely just ranking in and around league average for most statistics so far this year.
The slight concern here is that Stroud has posted more weeks with a grade of a C+ or below (five) than a B- or above (three). The positive spin is that the Houston Texans are 6-2, so thus far, it hasn’t hurt them. However, it makes us wonder about this team’s ceiling.
Houston’s defense is good, so if Stroud can hover around being a top-10 quarterback this year, he and this offense could dovetail nicely for a Super Bowl run with that defense in place.