It might've died down a bit over the last year-ish, but the debate surrounding whether or not the San Francisco 49ers' Brock Purdy should be classified as elite is very much ongoing.
And FanSided's 2026 quarterback rankings certainly just added a bit more fuel to the discussion.
Polling a panel of NFL site editors, Purdy landed in the middle of the pack in contrast to 31 other teams' starters—15th, squarely in the tier of "Strong QB1."
OK, fair enough. Based on last year's injury-plagued season, perhaps Purdy's stock value has slipped a bit since his MVP-caliber 2023 campaign. Yet it's equally possible those who knocked Purdy down back then as merely being a byproduct of his supporting cast probably still hold the same grudge against him now.
The rankings reflect it, especially when viewing which QBs ranked ahead of him.
Several QBs shouldn't have been ranked ahead of Brock Purdy
Only five quarterbacks—the Buffalo Bills' Josh Allen, the Kansas City Chiefs' Patrick Mahomes, the Los Angeles Rams' Matthew Stafford, the Cincinnati Bengals' Joe Burrow and the Baltimore Ravens' Lamar Jackson—earned placement in the top tier, which is fine. Let's let those five be.
It's Tier 2, the high-end QB1s, that create some questions.
The New England Patriots' Drake Maye, the Los Angeles Chargers' Justin Herbert and the Dallas Cowboys' Dak Prescott all ranked ahead of Purdy's tier, which might be a bit perplexing when one factors in how the Niners signal-caller alone has more postseason victories to his credit than those three combined.
Sure, wins don't classify as a playoff stat. But there's a correlation between postseason success and a quarterback's effectiveness. Purdy has that. The other three don't, and that's just one bit of evidence.
Here's another, courtesy of SF Standard's David Lombardi:
Brock Purdy vs Drake Maye would be an elite Super Bowl pic.twitter.com/5KHzIKZgCC
— David Lombardi (@LombardiHimself) December 26, 2025
Related story: Jim Harbaugh showers all kinds of praise upon Brock Purdy
Herbert might have the better raw talent, while Prescott has the longevity. But one could easily argue Purdy deserves to be alongside Maye in some regard.
Instead, Purdy winds up in the same tier as the Green Bay Packers' Jordan Love, the Chicago Bears' Caleb Williams, the Washington Commanders' Jayden Daniels, among others, all of whom ranked ahead of San Francisco's hurler.
Perhaps it's OK Brock Purdy is underrated and underappreciated
By this point, 49ers fans have gotten used to the debate. Seeing names like Love, Maye and Williams above Purdy shouldn't be too surprising.
Even if the Niners win a Super Bowl with Purdy under center in the imminent future, it probably won't change the narrative that much. If anything, critics would look at his supporting cast and coaching staff and assign the credit there instead of upon the quarterback's talents.
That said, Purdy has long acknowledged playing with a chip on his shoulder, stemming from him being the final pick of the 2022 NFL Draft and continuing on ever since.
Perhaps the continued slights and lower rankings will help feed that fire.
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