Stats prove Brock Purdy is better than a consensus top-5 quarterback

There are many who will try to discount the success that San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy has had in his young career. It is becoming harder and harder to do that especially when you look at his stats compared to elite quarterbacks.

Coach Yac on the social media platform X (formerly Twitter) put things into perspective when he compared Purdy's first 24 career starts to the first 24 starts of Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow's career.

The post can be viewed below:

If you cannot access the post, basically it highlights the fact Purdy has more touchdown passes, fewer turnovers, and a higher passer rating than Burrow through 24 starts in their respective careers.

Now, part of this could definitely be due to the fact Burrow was playing on a worse team in the first 24 starts of his career, although some of those starts include the 2021 season, which was the year the Cincinnati Bengals made it to the Super Bowl.

It is pretty remarkable that both Purdy and Burrow made it to the Super Bowl in their first full seasons where they started every meaningful game and were healthy for the full year. It is even more remarkable when one considers that Burrow was selected with the first overall pick in the 2020 NFL Draft, while Purdy was taken with the very last pick in the 2022 draft.

However, as the post points out, Burrow is considered by many to be an elite quarterback, while Purdy is considered by many to be average at best because he is propped up by a great supporting cast.

This certainly has something to do with where each was taken in the draft and the fact Purdy's diamond-in-the-rough status makes a lot of analysts look foolish. It also ignores the fact Burrow is the beneficiary of great weapons as well. He has had one of the best receivers in the league in Ja'Marr Chase since 2021, and the Cincy signal-calller also had weapons like Joe Mixon, Tee Higgins, and Tyler Boyd and yet that is not held against him.

Purdy has played very well so far this season despite the fact that the Niners have been without star running back Christian McCaffrey due to his Achilles injury. They were also missing pass catchers Deebo Samuel and George Kittle in Week 3 due to their injuries, too.

Despite this, Purdy still played a great game that debunked the notion he needs stars around him to play well even though the team lost.

While the Niners hope to get their stars back as soon as possible, Purdy continuing to play well without his All-Pro supporting cast may be the only way to truly shed the label of "checkdown quarterback."

Read more from Niner Noise