How 49ers stole Brock Purdy: The overlooked trait every other team missed
San Francisco took the Iowa State quarterback with the final pick of the 2022 NFL Draft, but Purdy believes his most valuable qualities were never properly measured
The San Francisco 49ers may have found their franchise quarterback in the last possible place anyone expected.
Brock Purdy entered the 2022 NFL Draft with plenty of experience, but almost none of the hype that surrounded the quarterbacks selected ahead of him.
By the time San Francisco went on the clock with the 262nd and final selection, every other team had passed on Purdy multiple times.
The 49ers ultimately made him the final pick of the draft, giving him the “Mr. Irrelevant” label that traditionally accompanies the player selected last. What followed has turned that nickname into one of the great draft-day misnomers in recent NFL history.
Purdy is now firmly established as San Francisco's starting quarterback and one of the most important players on the roster.
The 49ers rewarded him with a five-year, $265 million extension in 2025, including $181 million in total guarantees, demonstrating just how dramatically his value has changed since draft night.
Yet Purdy himself believes the most important part of his game was something that could not be captured by a stopwatch or a tape-measure.
Speaking on former NFL coach Jason Garrett 's “Coach 2 Coach Podcast,” Purdy was asked which qualities he believes matter most for quarterbacks attempting to survive and succeed in the NFL.
“I think someone who knows who they are… You’re gonna face so much playing the position of quarterback, good and bad. And a guy who knows who they are, who’s a competitor… I feel like those are the guys that have lasted long.”
That answer offers an insight into why Purdy has been able to overcome the limitations that caused him to slide all the way to the end of the draft.
At Iowa State, Purdy started 46 games across four seasons and completed 67.7 percent of his passes for 12,170 yards, 81 touchdowns and 33 interceptions. He was twice named first-team All-Big 12, giving him a substantial amount of starting experience before he ever arrived in the NFL.
But those qualities did not appear to outweigh concerns about his physical profile during the draft process.
The trait Purdy believes scouts failed to appreciate
Purdy was hardly the prototype scouts were looking for.
He was considered undersized, with what NFL.com described at the time as average arm strength. He did, however, possess a quick release, accuracy and the ability to make decisions quickly in the Iowa State offense. His competitiveness and leadership were also praised by college coach Matt Campbell.
When Garrett asked Purdy what evaluators failed to recognize, the quarterback pointed toward something less tangible than arm strength or athletic testing.
“I don’t know if it was the height. ‘If he’s short, and can he run really fast?’ Or Does he have an extremely strong arm? What’s the trait? I don’t know if my college tape necessarily showed all those flashy things that some of these high draft picks show,” he said.
“But something that they missed was probably the experience that I had. The situational football, the way that I process the game, the way that I lead the locker room. If you asked my teammates at Iowa State, who I was, and as a leader of men, maybe that’s something that was overlooked. But I really do believe those are the things that translated into the NFL. And once I got my opportunity, then I feel like I have those traits.”
The NFL career numbers make it increasingly difficult to argue that Purdy's assessment was wrong.
After taking over as a rookie when injuries struck the quarterbacks ahead of him, Purdy immediately helped keep the 49ers ' season alive.
He has since developed into a Pro Bowl quarterback, led San Francisco to Super Bowl LVIII and appeared in two NFC Championship Games.
Through his first three seasons as the primary starter, he accumulated 9,518 passing yards, 64 touchdowns and 27 interceptions across 40 games, including 36 starts.
His 2023 season was particularly significant. Purdy threw for a franchise-record 4,280 yards and 31 touchdowns while posting a 113.0 passer rating, earning his first Pro Bowl selection and helping the 49ers reach the Super Bowl.
Even after a more uneven 2025 campaign, when injuries limited him to nine regular-season games, Purdy still threw for 2,167 yards and 20 touchdowns with a 100.5 passer rating.
That is the remarkable part of the 49ers ' gamble. San Francisco did not select a quarterback with overwhelming physical gifts.
It selected a player whose processing ability, preparation, competitiveness and leadership eventually proved far more valuable than his draft position suggested.
The organization now has its quarterback locked up through 2030, and head coach Kyle Shanahan has publicly described Purdy as the leader of the team.
The 49ers still have unfinished business. Their ultimate objective remains a Super Bowl championship, and Purdy will be at the center of that pursuit.
Three years after being the final name called in Las Vegas, the quarterback once considered “Mr. Irrelevant” has become perhaps the clearest example of why the NFL draft is as much about identifying the right traits as it is finding the most impressive physical specimen.
San Francisco saw enough to take the chance. The rest of the league missed what Purdy now believes mattered most.
