Brock Purdy could be staring at the kind of season that looks huge in the box score and ugly everywhere else.
The 49ers quarterback has already gone from Mr. Irrelevant to franchise cornerstone in a hurry, and 2026 may be the year he posts his biggest numbers yet.
San Francisco has added Mike Evans and reshuffled other pieces on offense, giving Purdy more to work with than he has had before. But the real driver behind a potential leap in passing yards may not be the upgrades around him.
It may be what happens on the other side of the ball.
That’s the uncomfortable part for the 49ers. A quarterback can rack up stats fast when his team is constantly playing from behind, and the recent league trend backs that up.
Last season, two of the top five passers in yards played for teams whose defenses gave up at least 24.0 points per game. The year before, Joe Burrow led the NFL with 4,918 passing yards while the Bengals allowed 25.5 points per game, which ranked seventh-worst in the league.
San Francisco’s early defensive outlook makes that path look very possible. The secondary has already been labeled a bottom-10 unit, and ESPN has identified the interior defensive line as the team’s biggest weakness heading into 2026.
That leaves a lot on the shoulders of Nick Bosa and the linebackers. The problem is that Bosa is coming back from his second torn ACL, while Fred Warner is returning from a gruesome ankle fracture. That’s a lot to ask from two players who may be forced to carry a defense with major holes elsewhere.
If the defense comes up short, Purdy and the offense will be asked to do the heavy lifting. The early signs on that side are encouraging: Mike Evans looks like the alpha San Francisco brought him in to be, and George Kittle’s rehab is ahead of schedule.
Still, the game script may not cooperate. If the 49ers are chasing points often, Purdy could be throwing far more than he usually does.
He has already topped 4,000 passing yards in a season when San Francisco allowed the third-fewest points per game. The question now is what happens if he’s asked to drop back 35 times a week.
The 49ers will be hoping to uncover some help on defense and reduce the pressure on the offense. Otherwise, Purdy could wind up near the top of the league in passing yards for reasons San Francisco would rather avoid.
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