Let's start with what this column is not about.
San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy celebrates with fans after an NFL football game against the Dallas Cowboys in Santa Clara, Calif., Sunday, Oct. 8, 2023. Namely that the coaching-quarterback combination of San Francisco’s Kyle Shanahan and Brock Purdy is going to become the next Bill Belichick and Tom Brady of New England.
Purdy went even deeper in the draft, the deepest actually, No. 262 out of 262 in 2022. He, too, was a good competitor after a couple of winning seasons at Iowa State, but certainly not an elite talent. The Niners put him third on their depth chart behind veteran Jimmy Garopollo and signal caller of the future Trey Lance, who the Niners traded away a fortune in assets to draft No. 3 overall in 2021.
Yet by the Super Bowl, there was discussion about whether Bledsoe, again healthy, should get the starting nod. When New England had a chance for a late-game, potential title winning drive in Super Bowl XXXVI, faith in Brady was still so low that commentator John Madden thought the Patriots should play for overtime.
Early in Brady’s career, plenty of credit for the Patriots success was passed onto the defense and Belichick’s elite coaching and strategy. Some of that was fair. That unit was ferocious, allowing just 17.0 points a game and just 15.6 in the playoffs in that 2001 season. And Purdy is throwing up much better individual stats than Brady. Yes, this is, of course, a very different era of football. Brady was not blessed with the complimentary talent that Purdy currently is — Christian McCaffrey, Deebo Samuel, George Kittle, Brandon Aiyuk. And Shanahan is a noted offensive coach where Belichick was famed as a defensive innovator.
Meanwhile, Shanahan is still just 43 years old but in his seventh season as a NFL head coach. Belichick was 49 in 2001 but also in his seventh season.
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