Brock Purdy’s absence from ESPN’s annual top-10 quarterback rankings has become an annual offseason storyline for the San Francisco 49ers quarterback, and NBC Sports Bay Area’s Matt Maiocco has a theory for why it keeps happening.
Appearing on KNBR “The Sports Leader,” Maiocco pointed to draft-day bias as the root cause of the snub.
“I still think that when you’re talking about executives, coaches, and scouts, all of those guys are probably still a bit butt-hurt that they had [Purdy] ranked so low in the draft,” Maiocco said. “Brock Purdy was a guy who’s picked in the seventh round — not only that, he was the last pick of the seventh round. So that means that 31 other teams did not even use a seventh-round pick on him. And for the 49ers, you know, they had six-plus rounds to go by before they invested a draft pick in him. So I think that executives and scouts are very slow to come off of their thinking of where he was on their draft boards, and they’re not — you know, they don’t want to be so eager to say, ‘Oh man, was I ever wrong, he’s not only worthy of a draft pick, but now he’s one of the top 10 quarterbacks in the league.’ So that doesn’t surprise me at all.”
ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler surveyed more than 70 league executives, coaches and scouts for the rankings, published last week, and Purdy again landed among the honorable mentions rather than the top 10. One NFC executive did throw Purdy a bone, telling Fowler, “He has got two superpowers. Layering the ball and short-area quickness to stay alive. He’s elite in those two areas.” Purdy started nine games in 2025 after a turf toe injury cost him half the season, finishing with 2,167 yards, 20 touchdowns and 10 interceptions on 69.4% passing as San Francisco went 13-4 and reached the divisional round.
Maiocco also noted that Caleb Williams, who landed at No. 10 on ESPN’s list, offers the kind of eye-popping physical talent and No. 1 overall draft pedigree that tends to carry more weight with evaluators than Purdy’s production-over-flash profile, even if the tape doesn’t always back it up.
All this adds to the legacy of Purdy as he enters his fifth NFL season and fourth as the full-time starter for the 49ers. A full, healthy and productive season should help his case to reach top-10 status, but it doesn’t sound like NFL decision-makers will forget what they missed out on in the 2022 draft.
This article originally appeared on Niners Wire: 49ers insider explains why ESPN survey snubbed Brock Purdy
Reporting by Oliver G., Niners Wire / Niners Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Oliver G., Niners Wire | USA TODAY Network
