Former 49ers defensive player says QB Brock Purdy “is here to stay”

Logan Ryan appeared in five regular season games for the San Francisco 49ers in 2023, with two of those appearances in a starting role. Ryan also played in all three of the 49ers' postseason games, including the Super Bowl last February.

Ryan's time with the 49ers started a little differently considering he wasn't in the league when the team called him. Ryan was on a cruise with his family when the 49ers decided they needed another defensive back. They called Ryan and before he knew it, he was on his way to Santa Clara to play for a team that almost won the Super Bowl.

Last month, Ryan sat down with Keyshawn Johnson on the "All Facts No Brakes" Podcast. During the interview, Johnson asked Ryan if 49ers QB Brock Purdy is here to stay or if everyone is waiting for him to turn back into a pumpkin. Ryan had plenty of good things to say about Purdy and is a believer in the San Francisco signal-caller.

"Nah, he's here to stay. I think they're going to give him a bag, too," Ryan said. "Nah, he's going to be like one of the highest paid. People will be shocked. Like, what? You're going to be talking about that forever. But, nah, he's here to stay."

Purdy is eligible for a new contract following the 2024 season. Some speculate his new contract could be worth $50 million per season. How that unfolds remains to be seen. For at least one more season, though, the 49ers have their franchise quarterback on a rookie contract.

Ryan continued, "Shanahan loves him. Like, true, true. Like, I got there a week or so before we played Baltimore on Christmas. Remember that game? And he threw four picks and a lot of those picks were tipped balls...so it's just a bad day, you know, a bad day at work. He didn't play great, but like he had three picks or whatever in the first half or third quarter. He's in the fourth quarter, still stepping in, still slinging it, like, still trying to throw the ball, trying to win the game.

"And Shanahan said, I remember in a meeting, he's like, 'I've coached a lot of quarterbacks. When quarterbacks have three or four interceptions, they're trying to check it down, protect, they protect, you know, get out of there, get out of dodge. Not trying to take no more hits.' He still stayed like kind of in his progression, but kind of had this gunfire about him. This dog about him."

One of the things that his teammates love about him is that Purdy is an elite competitor. He's a genuinely good and nice person, but on the field, he's a killer. And his coaches and teammates love that about him. Purdy is intentional about everything he does, including working to get better.

"And he always would ask me questions about Brady and stuff like that," Ryan continued. "And in the playoffs, I think you saw, like, the 49ers were a team that's used to playing ahead. In the playoffs, we got behind a bunch and Purdy was coming in the second half going to get it, making plays happen with his feet, with his arm. He's got this dog ability about him on top of the processing. I think he processed like a Kirk Cousins. But he also has this dog in him, though, that I don't think people fully see, but he does it to win games over there."

Ryan also commented on the 49ers' top three wide receivers, Brandon Aiyuk, Deebo Samuel, and Jauan Jennings, saying Aiyuk is the hardest of the three to guard because of his route-running. "Like, he's crispy, fast, electric, but, like, what all three of them, like, what Deebo does with the ball after he gets it is just special," Ryan said. "That's world-class special."

Ryan talked about how the 49ers wide receivers make things more difficult for defensive backs because of the way they block. "They don't bring a backup receiver in to go catch a pass and one player running the ball," added Ryan. "Are you staying in the whole game? Yeah, and he's blocking, dude, 70 yards downfield, and he's blocking guys to the Gatorade cooler with Jennings and Deebo. So those guys are asked to block.

"And he's also running high-quality routes and catching the ball when he's targeted. So I think all that, that's a guy they would pay because he plays the position every single down."

Watch this portion of the interview below:

• Marc Adams
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