For a while, there were some in the national media, and amongst San Francisco 49ers fans, who felt that Brock Purdy was just another Jimmy Garoppolo. The argument was that Purdy only had more skilled players around him than Garoppolo did, but one stat completely refutes that argument.
It's a small sample size, but a chart from Week 1 in the NFL shows that of all quarterbacks, Purdy had the lowest percentage of throws that went to his first read at 27.0 percent. The next-lowest was Philadelphia Eagles signal caller Jalen Hurts at 39.3 percent, and the highest of the week was Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love at 78.0 percent.
It's just one week, but it speaks to arguably the biggest difference between Purdy and Garoppolo. He is much better at processing post-snap than Jimmy G ever was. Purdy can go through his progressions if his first look is not there. He doesn't panic, as evidenced by the fact that he is one of the best quarterbacks when it comes to EPA when throwing with both a clean pocket and under pressure.
Brock Purdy's superpower is something 49ers never saw with Jimmy G
He stays calm and is able to find an open receiver more often than not, whereas Garoppolo truly only had one read. If it wasn't there, he would often panic and get happy feet, which led to frequent mistakes like sacks or interceptions.
Purdy often gets branded as a "system quarterback," but he has shown that he is a master of head coach Kyle Shanahan's offense while also being capable of scrambling and making off-schedule plays. Garoppolo really didn't do that very often when he was running the offense, which is why Shanahan had such a run-heavy scheme in place during Jimmy G's tenure.
Shanahan's faith in Purdy is clear. He trusts him more than any quarterback he's had since becoming the head coach in San Francisco. It's why fans are used to seeing big plays like in Week 1, when Brock connected with wide receiver Demarcus Robinson for a 39-yard touchdown.
There's a reason why Purdy is the undisputed starter in San Francisco, and Garoppolo is without a job. Garoppolo did certain things well, but Purdy does them better, and he brings new elements to the offense as well. Anyone still pretending that Purdy and Jimmy G are the same doesn't have a leg to stand on, and the statistic showing his progression ability proves what the eye test has shown all along.
Add us as a preferred source on Google