After initially making it to the NFC Championship in that same rookie year, followed by a Super Bowl appearance that took Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs to overtime, the often soft-spoken Purdy still comes across very much the same despite literally going from "Mr. Irrelevant" to one of the most talked about quarterbacks in the league who is on the cusp of a monster contract extension with the 49ers next season.
With such astounding, surprising success happening at what feels like warp speed, his fame has understandably skyrocketed right along with it. However, Purdy has appeared to remain firmly grounded throughout his quick rise to NFL prominence, and there's no better way of conveying that than how the 24-year-old quarterback described the moment his fame and popularity among 49ers fans truly registered with him.
It happened, of course, while Purdy was grocery shopping with his wife, which honestly feels like the most Brock Purdy thing ever.
Here's what the understated Purdy recently said in an interview with KPIX 5's Vern Glenn.
"There's been little things, but I think, just you know, trying to go get groceries with my wife, you know," Purdy said with a smile. "And then people see me, and like we're turning aisles and there's people coming up, and I'm like, 'Oh, man.' So, I think that was maybe just one of the first times is, you know, we're trying to get some groceries, and then you got crowds of people within the grocery store trying to ask for autographs and this and that. And I'm apologizing to my wife. I'm like, 'I'm sorry,' you know, like try to put my hat down and hoodie on or something but, just that kind of stuff happening."
The fact that Purdy was in a grocery store apologizing to his wife for being famous and calling audibles in a valiant attempt at a lower profile by pulling his hat down and throwing his hoodie up—all while perhaps throwing some milk and Cheerios into the cart— is exactly the type of thing that makes Purdy, Purdy.
Based on everything we see and hear from the Niners quarterback in that signature humble tone, the entire description is just so easy to picture. And really, it's stuff like this that Purdy always conveys in such a downplayed nature that's made him such an easy, quick fan favorite in San Francisco.
He finished off the grocery shopping story with, "For me and my wife, we just like to have that simple lifestyle. We don't try to do too much."
It certainly sounds that way. Although, at this point, living "that simple lifestyle" seems like a near impossibility.
The full sit-down with Vern Glenn was pretty great and can be found in its entirety below.