Brock Purdy of the San Francisco 49ers throws a pass against the Dallas Cowboys during the first quarter of an NFL game at Levi’s Stadium on Oct. 8, 2023, in Santa Clara, Calif.
Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images
On Friday’s episode of “First Take,” the former NFL veteran declared that Purdy “is not an elite quarterback. He’s a product of his system.”
Sharpe then turned to Christian scripture to continue his point.
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“In the biblical term, the devil told God that Job, the reason why he serves you is because you give everything to him,” Sharpe said. “He said if you remove that hedge from around him, he will curse his very maker. [God] said you can take everything but his life. Took his kids, took his sheep, took all of that! Job was still faithful.”
How does this story from the Bible, which Sharpe covered pretty succinctly, relate to the Niners’ 23-year-old quarterback? Well, Purdy is Job, and his supporting cast — like receivers Deebo Samuel and Brandon Aiyuk and head coach Kyle Shanahan — are Job’s sheep and children.
“I’m not so sure that if we removed Deebo, we removed Kyle Shanahan, we removed Aiyuk, we would still see this Brock Purdy. He is a product of the system,” Sharpe continued.
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Sharpe added that he’s not trying to “take away” from what Purdy has produced this season, and “it’s OK for him to be in the MVP discussion and not be Patrick Mahomes,” correctly recognizing that Purdy and Mahomes are different people and players. He concludes that Purdy isn’t required to do as much as the league’s other top quarterbacks have to for their respective teams.
There’s no end in sight to the question of what to make of Purdy and what he’s done so far in his young career. While this particular discussion has moved the goalposts from whether he’s actually good to whether he’s elite, the influence of Purdy’s teammates and coaches is still at the center of the debate. Never mind that the quarterback has yet to lose a regular-season game — the Niners are undefeated this season, in case you forgot — and is leading the league in many statistical categories. He also threw four touchdowns Sunday against the Cowboys.
Still, now that there’s biblical literature involved in the discussion of whether Purdy is good, or great, or elite, at his job, it’s hard to imagine things slowing down anytime soon.
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