49ers CEO Jed York doesn't speak to reporters very often, but on Thursday he made one of his rare appearances count by sharing a number of memorable stories about the team's players and head coach Kyle Shanahan.
The most revealing tale York told was about how Shanahan knew before the 2022 season even started that then-rookie and seventh-round pick Brock Purdy was the team's best quarterback, despite the presence of veteran Jimmy Garoppolo and 2021 first-round pick Trey Lance. 49ers Webzone discussed that news earlier today, but there's much more than that to discuss from York's media session than the fact the 49ers knew well in advance they had something unique on their hands with Brock Purdy.
We'll dive into some of that in this version of 49ers Notebook, in particular York's memories of what it was like to meet Purdy's parents for the first time and what the mood was heading into the team's decision to trade for running back Christian McCaffrey. We'll also have some interesting quotes from defensive end Nick Bosa and linebacker Fred Warner regarding the matchup in Super Bowl LVIII against the Kansas City Chiefs, plus much more, including news of a major endorsement for Purdy. So, without further ado...
He got it from his parents
York's story about his initial meeting with Purdy's parents, Carrie and Shawn, was more than just a fun anecdote about how he met the mother and father of his team's future starting quarterback. It also shed some light on where Purdy gets his confidence.
York said he first came across Carrie and Shawn Purdy during an annual event that brings players' families and the organization together. He was surprised to see how focused Carrie and Shawn Purdy were on the experience, especially given the fact it seemed unlikely (from the outside looking in, anyway) that their son would see much time at quarterback for the 49ers.
"My first interaction, not with Brock directly, but we always do a great job of trying to bring people's family in before," York said. "So we have our opening event, usually in preseason to have players' families come in. I make sure every year to talk to them and sort of give them a sense of who the 49ers are and sort of what the organization is. So I walk in and it was upstairs in this building in Levi's (Stadium), and two people were sitting there writing down notes and so intent on what's going on.
"And I'm like, 'Whose parents are those?' Brock Purdy's parents. And in my mind I'm like, 'All right. We invested three first round picks in another quarterback. We have a quarterback that had taken us to a Super bowl. We're paying them $20 million a year. This is interesting that these people are this intent on writing down every piece of information and taking this as seriously as possible. It's going to be interesting to see how this plays out.'"
The Purdys probably knew something no one else did. The 49ers found out what that was soon enough.
"Like a week later is when Kyle and I had the conversation, like 'Okay, let's see how this plays out,'" York said. "And I think that's the fun thing about Brock. He's a little over a year into his NFL career. He's a wonderful young man. He works his tail off. It means the world to him and it means the world to his family. They are so tight together."
Shawn Purdy also shared a dose of competitiveness and confidence during an encounter with general manager John Lynch. The two of them faced off in baseball when Lynch was at Stanford, a game that Lynch's recollection of was hazy. Shawn, however, forgot neither the fact that he faced Lynch nor what happened when the teams played.
"I don't know if you know the story about John and his dad in college -- played against each other, and John's team was one of the best teams in college baseball," York said. "I think they lost two games all year, and one of them, Lynch, lost to Brock's dad. Brock's dad pitched against him. He was at the University of Miami. And John didn't remember that it was Brock's dad when one of his teammates brought it up. Once he found out, he said something to Mr. Purdy, he's like, 'You know, we have some history together.' And Mr. Purdy's like, 'Yeah, I know. I beat you three to two.'"
"And that's how Brock is, right?" York continued. "There's a confidence about him that he doesn't run around -- and it's not an arrogance and a cockiness -- but there's an air of confidence with him. And you can see that with his parents. You can see that the moment's not too big for them and that they've raised an amazing young man."
Purdy will have a lot on his shoulders in Super Bowl LVIII, to say the least, when he'll attempt to lead the 49ers to the franchise's sixth championship. There's no bigger stage and no brighter spotlight than what Purdy will face on February 11, but chances are he'll be able to handle it just fine.
Recapping one of the franchise's biggest trades
The 49ers have made a number of shrewd moves while building the roster of Super Bowl talent they currently have, with one of them being the trade that brought running back Christian McCaffrey from the Carolina Panthers in 2022. But there were doubts about whether or not McCaffrey was worth the cost, which in the end proved to be very steep.
The 49ers wound up shipping a second, third and fourth-round pick in the 2023 NFL Draft and a fifth-round pick in the 2024 NFL Draft in exchange for McCaffrey, who proved himself to be an elite running back during his days with the Panthers but also had a history of injuries. In addition, there was the question of how much was too much to trade for a player at a position that many teams around the league don't feel the need to invest as heavily in as they may have in bygone eras. One person who questioned the price for McCaffrey was Shanahan, but the 49ers were pushed in part by the fact that their division rival, the Los Angeles Rams, were the other frontrunner for McCaffrey's services.
"He thought it was a lot to give up for a running back, and I think John and I thought it was just the right amount to give up for Christian," York said. "And I remember that very vividly where it's like, 'Look, it's not a pass rusher, it's not a quarterback, but it's a good player. But do we want to give up that much?'" And collectively it was, 'Do you want him to go to LA? This is where we are.'
"As somebody that plays poker a little bit, you don't go all in on six-jack off suit, right? When you have pair of jacks or ace-king, you might not win the hand, but that's the time that you want to push your chips into the middle. And I feel like that's where we were with Christian and we did give up a lot. But I think we have one of the best, if not the best player in the National Football League on our team."
McCaffrey has undoubtedly paid heavy dividends for the 49ers, as he has been one of the best offensive players in football since he landed in San Francisco and is one of the favorites for the 2023 NFL Offensive Player of the Year. It was a rare example of the 49ers going all-in on an offensive player, and the end result has been about as favorable as they could have expected.
"You look at us when we draft, when we do things in free agency, it's generally on the defensive side of the ball," York said. "We generally do not draft offensive players super high. We're not doing a ton of stuff in free agency for offensive players. It is more that (Shanahan is) focused on the defense because he knows he's going to spend more time on the offense. And I think it was just making sure that he felt comfortable knowing that it might not work, but it's a bet that we're all willing to make."
Remembering the first time
McCaffrey made his debut for the 49ers on October 23, 2022 against the same team they'll be facing in Super Bowl LVIII -- the Kansas City Chiefs. The 49ers lost in decisive fashion to the Chiefs that day, falling 44-23 in front of a home crowd at Levi's Stadium, while McCaffrey only rushed for 38 yards on eight carries. But the fact McCaffrey played in the game at all was impressive, considering the fact he had just been traded to the 49ers days before and was not up to speed on Shanahan's complicated playbook.
"I mean, that was amazing," Shanahan said. "We didn't plan on playing him at all. I think he got here on a Friday afternoon. I told John no way. But then when I talked to him on the phone and the way he was talking to me, I was like, 'We better send this guy a playbook. He might be playing because he's adamant that he can do it.' And then when we played him, he was definitely right. So that was a sign of what we had. He was amazing in that game and he's been the same dude ever since."
McCaffrey will factor in much more heavily in next Sunday's matchup against the Chiefs than he did last season. Chiefs head coach Andy Reid will be expecting an improved version of McCaffrey than what he saw in 2022, given what McCaffrey has been able to do in Shanahan's offense.
"Kyle's one of the most creative guys in the league," Reid said Thursday. "You knew he was going to find ways to maximize him, the different tools that he has. McCaffrey's got phenomenal tools -- he can catch, block, run. He does it all, and Kyle's exploited it even more than what it had been before."
Reid on Purdy
In addition to having some comments on McCaffrey, Reid shared a few thoughts on Purdy, which included a recollection of what he saw when Purdy played at Iowa State University. Purdy had a lasting impact during his days as a four-year starter at Iowa State -- an impact Reid says has carried over into the NFL.
"He's a heck of a player," Reid said. "I remember specifically one of the Saturday afternoons watching him in college, and I remember the head coach saying, 'This guy has changed our program.' Changing a program, that's big. And that's what he is. He's doing that in the National Football League. Last week he did as much with his legs as he did with his arm. He ran the ball well. He's a good football player. He's smart, has a great feel for things."
Chiefs not expecting venue familiarity to be an advantage
The 49ers have some experience playing at this year's Super Bowl venue, Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, having played the Raiders there late in the 2022 season. The Raiders are a division rival of the Chiefs, however, which means the Chiefs have played at Allegiant Stadium once per season since the Raiders moved to Las Vegas in 2020.
So will that familiarity factor help the Chiefs in Super Bowl LVIII? Probably not as much as one might think, based on comments from Reid.
"I'd say yes, but we're on the home team side," Reid said. "I don't know that side. But we've been there. I'm not sure that matters in this game. It comes down to the execution part of it. And really, when you play in the Super Bowl, there's that constant buzz. That noise is constant offensively and defensively because of the crowd being split. So that's what you've got to make sure you handle."
Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes will have the advantage of playing in a controlled environment after going through wintry playoff games in Kansas City, Buffalo, and Baltimore. But he doesn't seem to care if the Super Bowl is in a dome or in the outdoors in the Arctic Circle.
"I don't know. I just like playing football," Mahomes said Thursday. "It doesn't matter if it's minus-30 or we're indoors. I'm just going to go out there and try to play the best I can."
Expecting some holding?
49ers defensive end Nick Bosa drew some headlines Thursday with his response to a question about if anything stood out about Chiefs offensive tackles Donovan Smith and Jawaan Taylor.
"They hold a lot," Bosa said.
Bosa wasn't saying anything inaccurate, as the Chiefs' offensive line has drawn a myriad of penalties this season, with Taylor leading the way with 20 flags. Still, his comments will surely come up again in the days ahead and may even be a storyline during the game, considering what happened when the 49ers played the Chiefs in Super Bowl LIV.
Those on the 49ers' end believe Bosa was held on a pivotal 3rd-and-15 conversion late in the Chiefs' 31-20 comeback victory over the 49ers in that game, among them being Jed York. That play was the first thing York mentioned when asked Thursday what he remembered about Super Bowl LIV.
"I remember Nick Bosa getting held on 3rd-and-long and that not getting called," York said.
Lessons of Super Bowl LIV
Bosa and linebacker Fred Warner are among a number of 49ers players who were on the roster when the team lost to the Chiefs in Super Bowl LIV, and each of them will be carrying some lessons learned in that game when they head into Super Bowl LVIII.
For Bosa, he'll be able to anticipate the intensity of the Super Bowl after playing in it as a rookie in 2019. That's a lesson he plans on passing down to his teammates who haven't experienced the Super Bowl as well.
"You learn a lot going through a long season in '19 and you don't understand it as much as a rookie -- how hard it is to get there," Bosa said. "But just how hard you have to play and how locked in you have to be for the entire four quarters if you actually want to win. I've learned that, and I'm just going to relay to the guys that there has to be a different level of effort, of intensity, of unselfishness that you have to get to for every single snap that you're in there."
Warner told reporters Thursday he was permanently affected by the way the 49ers lost that game, and as a result he's carried it with him in every game since.
"You gotta play a full 60 minutes," Warner said. "We're up by ten points late in the game and I'm thinking 'Hey, we're about to win us a Super Bowl. And that thing switched pretty quick, and that scarred me for life. Now, to this day, it doesn't matter if it's preseason, regular season, playoff game, I never start getting excited until that clock hits zero. So that's got to be the mindset -- playing all the way to the very end because they've got a pretty special guy back there throwing the football and we've got to do our best to stuff him."
There will also be a lesson Bosa will carry from how the Chiefs played against him in 2022.
"Definitely some things I need to be ready for because they were definitely game-planning me a little bit in that game," Bosa said. "So, some things I need to be ready for Andy Reid to do. And just as a defense, we were playing good ball. It's just about playing four quarters."
Bosa admitted Thusday there will be some extra fire in his belly after losing to the Chiefs in Super Bowl LIV, but he's going to do his best to keep that inside until kickoff.
"It's definitely going to bring some emotion that I'm trying to hold back until we get close," Bosa said. "We still have a lot of time, so you don't want to burn out. But it's going to be an intense day."
Making money moves
Brock Purdy's salary isn't very high compared to other NFL players, but maybe his new endorsement deal will help make up for that.
Purdy, who made a base salary of $870,000 in 2023, should be getting a nice paycheck after reportedly agreeing to an endorsement deal with Toyota. According to reporter Darren Rovell, the endorsement is Toyota's "first deal with an active NFL player since signing their official NFL vehicle sponsorship in October."
No word yet on when fans can expect Purdy's first ad with Toyota to appear.
