The 49ers are one win away from securing a NFC West title. And they look perhaps as dangerous as they have all season, with their third-string quarterback, Brock Purdy — Mr. Irrelevant — at the helm.
Purdy has been excellent.
That’s probably an understatement. He’s been delivering the passes that are traditional and crucial to the Kyle Shanahan offense, but when those plays break down and the quarterback has to make an off-schedule play, Purdy has delivered.
Former 49ers defensive back Donte Whitner hasn’t just been impressed. He joined Papa & Lund on Monday to dissect the 35-7 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Based on what he’s seen over the past two games, Whitner thinks San Francisco has its best option at quarterback. It’s those off-schedule plays, in concert with the staples of the offense that Whitner believes has them at their most dangerous.
“When you have a quarterback that, okay, you have everything covered up out there, now he can improvise and make a guy miss and play backyard football. That’s very dangerous,” Whitner said on KNBR. “And that’s what defensive coordinators worry about. And that’s the added effect that Kyle Shanahan was looking for when he went out and drafted and gave up so much draft capital for Trey Lance.
“Looking for a guy that could run his offense, take the easy throws, but OK, when the defense catches me, can you get out of something and make a big play for this offense? I think that this is the added bonus that it’s going to take to push to 49ers over the top.”
Whitner went on to detail what has impressed him most about the final pick in the NFL Draft.
It’s the full package from Purdy. Before the snap, he’s diagnosing coverages and then able to throw to the right target. Even when he’s fooled after the snap, Whitner said he’s able to adjust:
He did a good job of disguising. That first third down, that was very critical in them going on to score on the first drive of the game. When he stood in there, he noticed that they had zone alignments, he was thinking zone and they hit him with a surprise blitz. All the previous zone defenders were at the line of scrimmage, he found George Kittle like he did against the Miami Dolphins.
Another thing that he’s able to do is pre-snap, he can see the holes in the defense. The mannerisms and his shoulders and his eyes moving the underneath hook players and creating lanes like he did against Miami to get it to Jennings.
Look at the throw that he had to Christian McCaffrey. There was nowhere else to put that football. Just a phenomenal football on the sideline where only his guy could catch it. And it’s a game of millimeters at that point.
In Whitner’s view, this is the guy who can take the 49ers to a Super Bowl.
“I think that you can already see that the kid is special,” Whitner said. “He already has the ability to move defenders and know who’s free, beat free blitzers. I think that he gives them the best opportunity to win the Super Bowl right now. I think that if you can put his best plays in the last two games together, I don’t know if you can combine a Jimmy Garoppolo and Trey Lance reel from this year that can compete with it.”
It’s a strong statement at an early juncture in Purdy’s career, but based on his first two performances, it doesn’t seem totally far-fetched.
If Purdy continues to play this way, it’s not hard to imagine the 49ers at least winning the NFC.
Listen to the full interview below. You can listen to every KNBR interview on our podcast page at knbr.com/podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts.
Catch Papa & Lund weekdays from 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. on KNBR 104.5 / 680 and streaming live on KNBR.com.