San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy has been proving his doubters wrong since his first start in December 2022. He led his team to two NFC Championship Games and a Super Bowl in his first two seasons. That Super Bowl run came following major offseason surgery on his throwing arm.
Purdy is on pace this season for over 4,600 passing yards, which would shatter the single-season franchise record he set last year with 4,280 yards.
However, not everyone is convinced that Purdy belongs in the conversation as an elite NFL passer. During a recent episode of "The Herd," Colin Cowherd and Jason McIntyre played a segment called "Better than Brock," in which Cowherd chose which quarterbacks he would prefer over Purdy. The list was lengthy, with a few surprising choices.
Notably, there were some high-profile quarterbacks that Cowherd ranked below Purdy. Here are the players he deemed not as good as the 49ers' star quarterback:
- Sam Darnold, Minnesota Vikings
- Tua Tagovailoa, Miami Dolphins
- Jalen Hurts, Philadelphia Eagles
- Aaron Rodgers, New York Jets
On the other hand, Cowherd picked several quarterbacks over Purdy, including a few unexpected names:
- Dak Prescott, Dallas Cowboys
- Jared Goff, Detroit Lions
- Jordan Love, Green Bay Packers
- C.J. Stroud, Houston Texans
- Jayden Daniels, Washington Commanders
- Bo Nix, Denver Broncos
- Trevor Lawrence, Jacksonville Jaguars
- Caleb Williams, Chicago Bears
- Kirk Cousins, Atlanta Falcons
- Baker Mayfield, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
- Kyler Murray, Arizona Cardinals
Cowherd's selection of Bo Nix from the Denver Broncos and Caleb Williams from the Chicago Bears particularly raised eyebrows. This prompted McIntyre to question his choices and Cowherd to defend them.
"He's a more accurate thrower, collegiately," Cowherd said of Nix. "I think Bo Nix is [better]. By the way, he's starting to settle in. He didn't inherit all these [TE George] Kittle and [WR] Deebo [Samuel] and [WR Brandon] Aiyuk and all these wonderful toys to play with. He's basically got [WR] Courtland Sutton and cross your fingers.
"Bo Nix is on a heater. And again, C.J. Stroud, Bo Nix, they have the responsibility to rebuild a team. They don't get the luxury seating [from] day one."
Regarding Caleb Williams, Cowherd argued that the comparison to Purdy is "not close," leading McIntyre to laugh.
"One guy's a significantly better athlete," Cowherd explained. "What you don't take into consideration, this is what people don't—Brock Purdy's a trust fund kid. Basically, he walked [in], like Magic Johnson, 'Here's Kareem [Abdul-Jabbar].' I mean, when you get to come out of college to the pros, and you literally have the best scheme coach, [LT] Trent Williams, Deebo, [RB] Christian McCaffrey, the responsibility, the ask is totally [different].
"Caleb's being asked, with a wobbly franchise, 'Hey, kid, save us.' Brock Purdy's not a 'save us' guy at a franchise."
You can hear all of Cowherd's explanations below.
