National Football League

Drew Brees sees comparisons between 49ers' Brock Purdy and himself

Published Feb. 8, 2024 8:38 p.m. ET

Brock Purdy is looking to cap off what has been a superb first full season under center for the San Francisco 49ers with a win over the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LVIII — and he's gained some prominent fans in the process.

One of those fans is 13-time Pro Bowler Drew Brees.

"The thing that I love about him the most is the fact that he was a guy who went to Iowa State and not highly recruited, he started 47 games in college," Brees told Colin Cowherd on Thursday's edition of "The Herd," concerning whether he sees similarities between Purdy and himself. "Similar to Purdue, most of the time when we were stepping on the field during our college days, we were the underdog. We weren't winning the beauty pageant. We were going to have to scratch and crawl and find ways to win those games, so we were in a ton of competitive situations. Look, that molds you. That wires you in a lot of ways, and I think it helps prepare you certainly for when you get into the NFL and the line between winning and losing is so fine.

"And I think, to his benefit, he gets drafted to a place — forget where he got drafted — like the San Francisco 49ers where he's got an unbelievable offensive mind in Kyle Shanahan, a team that's been architected by John Lynch to have long-term success, a great defense, a great run game, just a great scheme all the way around. But, it takes a guy who can help orchestrate and manage all of that. And I see certainly his intellectual capabilities, his ability to manage all the shifts and motions that are happening on every play, like the motion landmarks, all the details that go into making this offense really successful, a ton of that responsibility falls on the quarterback, and he's handled it with poise.

"He obviously is a very timing, rhythm thrower, which is what I was, but I think he showed us what kind of an athlete he was last week by taking off and running, going outside the system and going and winning that game last week [against the Detroit Lions in the NFC Championship Game]."

As for their physical statures, Brees stood at 6-feet and 209 pounds, while Purdy stands at 6-1 and 220 pounds. Purdy was, of course, the last pick in the 2022 NFL Draft, while Brees — a three-year starter at Purdue (1998-2000) — was the No. 32 overall pick in the 2001 NFL Draft.

Brees led the NFL in passing yards seven times and completion percentage six times over his 20-year NFL career, while helping the New Orleans Saints win Super Bowl XLIV.

Purdy totaled 4,280 passing yards, 31 passing touchdowns, 11 interceptions and an NFL-best 113.0 passer rating, while completing 69.4% of his passes across 16 starts in the regular season (Purdy didn't start Week 18 with the 49ers having already clinched the No. 1 seed in the NFC). He also ran for 144 yards and two touchdowns. Purdy's efforts helped him earn a Pro Bowl nod.

In San Francisco's first two playoff games — wins over the Lions and Green Bay Packers — its signal-caller totaled 519 passing yards, two passing touchdowns, one interception and an 87.7 passer rating, while completing 61.4% of his passes.

Purdy finished his four-year career at Iowa State averaging 3,042.5 passing yards, 20.3 passing touchdowns and 8.3 interceptions per season, while posting a combined 151.1 passer rating and completing 67.7% of his passes. He also ran for 294.3 yards and 4.8 touchdowns per season.

The 49ers are a combined 21-5 (regular season plus postseason) with Purdy as their starter, while Brees' teams (San Diego Chargers and Saints) went a combined 181-123 with him under center.

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