San Francisco 49ers fans had plenty to say when Brock Purdy was left off ESPN’s top-10 quarterback list, a ranking built from the opinions of anonymous NFL coaches, executives, and scouts. But one advanced metric is giving Purdy backers plenty of ammunition.
A chart titled “ QB EPA per Play: Inside Pocket vs. Outside Pocket ” for the 2025 season puts Purdy in rare company. On the graph, he lands in the section labeled “Elite Everywhere,” alongside Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love and last year’s MVP, Los Angeles Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford.
“A look at quarterback EPA per play inside and outside the pocket.
Brock Purdy, Matthew Stafford, and Jordan Love all stood out as highly effective in both situations last year.
Inside/outside pocket designation via @FTNFantasy charting. pic.twitter.com/17zsw8L2ly
- Nutshell Sports (@NutshellSportz) July 15, 2026”
EPA isn’t the kind of stat that wins over everybody. It has the same sort of reputation in football that WAR does in baseball: a number that came from the analytics world and quickly became a favorite tool for people trying to explain away old-school skepticism.
David Lombardi leans on EPA often in making the case for Purdy, and while that can sound like a bit much, the bigger point is hard to miss. People who study Purdy closely tend to think very highly of him.
That includes some heavy hitters. Tom Brady, Joe Montana, and Maxx Crosby have all praised Purdy, which says plenty on its own.
Players who have been there at the highest level seem to recognize that Purdy is the real thing. Critics may zero in on his size or arm strength, but that doesn’t line up with how he actually plays.
The fit with Kyle Shanahan is obvious, too. Purdy has the processing speed to get through reads and make the right decision most of the time, and he also has enough athleticism and nerve to create when the play breaks down or the first look isn’t there.
Shanahan’s confidence in him tells the story as well. The Iowa State product appears tailor-made for the offense Shanahan wants to run, and the coach clearly trusts him more than any quarterback he has had in San Francisco.
Purdy might not deserve the “Elite Everywhere” label until he wins a Super Bowl, but the numbers at least push back hard against the idea that he isn’t a top-10 quarterback. And 49ers fans already know what they believe: when he’s healthy and at his best, he is.
In Other News...
Brandon Aiyuk Just Took His 49ers Breakup To Another Level
Brandon Aiyuk has taken his split from San Francisco from messy to openly combative, using social media to air out his frustration with the 49ers and make it clear he does not see a reunion coming. The posts landed as another sharp turn in a saga that has already stretched well beyond the field, with Aiyuk publicly taking aim at the organizations direction and even leaning into the local fan joke about the electrical substation near the team facility.
For the 49ers, the bigger issue now is not just the tone of the breakup but the lingering business side of it. Aiyuk remains on the reserve/left squad list and has not filed for league reinstatement, leaving his status unresolved even as the public comments continue to shape how the rest of the league views him. What once looked like a contract standoff has become something harder to repair, and the longer it drags on, the more it appears to be costing him in reputation and leverage. [Read more 🡒]
Kyle Shanahan's Super Bowl Legacy Just Took Another Brutal Hit
Kyle Shanahans rsum now carries another reminder of how often his teams have come close to the sports biggest prize without getting there. ESPN recently stacked three of his clubs among the top 10 best Super Bowl-less teams of the last 20 years, a list that includes the 2016 Falcons and both the 2019 and 2023 49ers. For San Francisco, it is a familiar and frustrating theme: a roster good enough to reach the final stage, but not quite good enough to finish the job.
The latest entry only deepens the conversation around Shanahans legacy, because the 49ers again had a chance to put a championship run away and came up short in the game that mattered most. Even with that history hanging over him, Shanahan remains in place and still has the same task ahead of him in Santa Clara. The question now is whether he can finally turn all those near-misses into the one result that has eluded him. [Read more 🡒]
49ers Could Be Headed For Their Biggest Offensive Shakeup In Years
The 49ers spent the offseason trying to sharpen an offense that has long leaned on flexibility, and the next round of decisions could change the look of the unit in a meaningful way. One of the biggest questions sits at wide receiver, where the team is weighing how to line up its starting group around Mike Evans and whether Ricky Pearsall or rookie DeZhaun Stribling can seize the job opposite him.
There is also movement at tight end, where Jake Tonges new extension suggests the 49ers see a real role for him alongside George Kittle rather than treating him as a simple backup. If that usage grows, it could ripple through the rest of the formation and leave Kyle Juszczyk with a smaller slice of the offense, another sign that San Francisco may be headed for a broader shakeup than it has made in years. [Read more 🡒]