What Brock Purdy Adds to the 49ers Offense

Considering that Brock Purdy was the last pick in the 2022 NFL Draft and gets to play in arguably the best offensive scheme in the league, the question of whether or not he’s a “system” quarterback seems destined to continue for some time.

Regardless of how you define a “system” quarterback, what shouldn’t be in question is whether or not he adds value on top of Kyle Shanahan’s scheme.

I wrote about Purdy’s ability to maximize the offense with his processing, anticipation, and accuracy earlier this season. On Thursday night against the Seahawks, he again showed his value with an unbelievable touchdown pass to Brandon Aiyuk that sealed the game for San Francisco. It was a throw that even Shanahan was surprised to see.

Let’s break it down.

The 49ers led 24-13 with about 8 minutes left in the game and faced a 2nd-and-7 from Seattle’s 28-yard line.

They had a dagger concept called off of a play-action boot-stop to the left. George Kittle would run the thru route with Brandon Aiyuk running the dig and tight end Charlie Woerner sneaking out late as the checkdown:

The Seahawks would rotate to cover-3 buzz after the snap:

That meant Kittle would run his thru route across the field to occupy the deep-middle safety. If the safety went with Kittle, Purdy would look to throw the dig. And that’s what happened: