49ers’ Brock Purdy’s biggest skeptic can’t stop doubling down on doubt

It’s safe to say that the Ringer’s Steven Ruiz is having a bit of a rough week. But the NFL analyst sure doesn’t seem to be backing down from his stance about San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy, who he said is “ruining his life.”

Ruiz has been in the crosshairs of 49ers fans over the past week for his continued dismissal of Purdy in his weekly QB rankings over at the Ringer. He updates his rankings every Wednesday, but even the 49ers’ 4-0 start lifted Purdy up to only 25th out of 34 last week.

In the post, he pointed out past quarterbacks whom he evaluated differently from the public and then laid out what he says is “the typical cycle.”

“1) Mediocre QB performs well in unique environment. 2) I [say] this is probably fake and present my argument. 3) Said argument gets mocked because I’m not focusing on the results. 4) The QB turns into a pumpkin and everyone forgets steps 1-3,” Ruiz wrote.

That’s in line with what Ruiz has said elsewhere. On his weekly “Dual Threats” podcast with Nora Princiotti, Ruiz said that Purdy’s start has been a “grift” before saying he “has to censor himself” on Purdy.

“I watched the film, and he’s not doing anything,” Ruiz said on the show. “He’s running the offense well, and I get the argument that he’s a good quarterback for this system and he’s the right quarterback for this system. And then I get yelled at when I rank him 25th.”

In Ruiz’s explanation, his rankings aren’t based on what the quarterbacks do for their specific teams but rather on what they would do in “a league-average offense.” Thus, to Ruiz, if Purdy were playing for a coach other than Kyle Shanahan, he would not be winning all of these games.

(Also of note: At one point, while describing a particular play, Ruiz called Purdy “Mac” — a self-proclaimed Freudian slip mentioning the New England Patriots quarterback, whom many in sports media seemed to want the 49ers to have taken instead of Trey Lance.)

Ruiz said on the podcast that he “feels like he’s being gaslit” into believing Purdy is good. That’s when Ruiz added the Niners quarterback is “ruining his life” at the moment.

Princiotti then asked a leading question: Can the 49ers win the Super Bowl like this? “They can’t,” Ruiz replied. When Princiotti retorted that she thinks the 49ers can, Ruiz laid down his boldest claim yet.

“If they do, I’m done. I’m not covering the sport again,” Ruiz said on the show. “If they win it with Brock Purdy … Sam Darnold, sure. I can get on board with Sam Darnold. Not Brock Purdy.”

In fairness, in a post published Monday after Sunday’s rout of Dallas, Ruiz did acknowledge that Purdy “is leading the MVP race” but otherwise didn’t comment on the quarterback. 

As for Sunday’s other quarterback? In the same post, Ruiz referred to himself as “the Ringer’s resident Dak apologist” and believes Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy’s scheme is failing Dallas signal-caller Dak Prescott, rather than the other way around.

In Ruiz’s Week 5 rankings, Prescott was No. 7. After Prescott threw three interceptions and got blown out by Purdy and friends, where the two quarterbacks end up in Week 6’s rankings will surely ignite another round of discourse for Ruiz.