Entering 2026, a general narrative surrounding San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy was he was the culmination of an elite head coach, Kyle Shanahan, and a beneficiary of serious offensive weaponry at his disposal.
As such, and perhaps not surprisingly, FanSided's season-opening quarterback rankings reflected this—Purdy was ranked 15th in the "Strong QB1" category.
The New England Patriots' Drake Maye, the Los Angeles Chargers' Justin Herbert and the Dallas Cowboys' Dak Prescott all ranked higher than Purdy. And that seemed to indicate yet another year in which Purdy's haters would cite the same context as a reason to doubt him yet again.
Except the Niners' hurler has done his share to change all that.
FanSided's midseason quarterback rankings reveal a Purdy surge, which is yet another piece of evidence on how the signal-caller is changing his own narrative.
Brock Purdy leaps up 1 tier in FanSided QB rankings
Again, Purdy isn't going to put himself into the class of truly elites: the Kansas City Chiefs' Patrick Mahomes, the Buffalo Bills' Josh Allen or the Baltimore Ravens' Lamar Jackson. The former would need a league MVP or two to do something like that.
But, after starting the year in the Strong QB1 category, Purdy now jumped up to Tier 2: High-end QB1, ranked sixth overall and trailing only the Chicago Bears' Caleb Williams in that particular bunch.
True, Prescott's slight regression and Herbert's massive regression aided Purdy's ascent. But it also appears the analysts compiling the data recognized how effective San Francisco's quarterback was over the first half, particularly in light of the fact two of his chief receiving weapons, Mike Evans and Deebo Samuel, have missed time because of injuries.
Heck, even on a national level, former critics like FS1's Colin Cowherd and Nick Wright changed their tune, going from unapologetic Purdy haters into praisers.
It also helps the 49ers are 7-1 and have marquee victories over Super Bowl-contending rivals like the Los Angeles Rams and Seattle Seahawks, both of which involved Purdy playing at a high level.
Purdy might not quite be a favorite in the MVP conversation, but he's at least finally starting to shed the criticism that has largely followed him since breaking into the league way back in 2022.
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