The San Francisco 49ers found a diamond in the rough with quarterback Brock Purdy. The last overall pick in the 2022 NFL Draft has led his team to back-to-back NFC Championship appearances and now has them playing for a Super Bowl LVIII title. Of course, Purdy's ascent came after two quarterbacks went down with injuries on the depth chart in front of him, and he also nearly had the "GOAT" to deal with as well.
Purdy recently noted that the 49ers told him he would be the starter unless they were able to land Tom Brady heading into the 2023 season.
"I remember [Kyle Shanahan] saying, 'If we can get Tom Brady, we're going to try to get him,'" Purdy said of a conversation he had with Shanahan. "And I was like, 'Yeah, he's the GOAT. I get it.'"
During a recent appearance on "The Eye Test for Two" podcast, 49ers general manager John Lynch was asked about Purdy's comments and the team's alleged pursuit of Brady. Lynch noted that the context to the team's thinking about possibly getting another quarterback like Brady stemmed from Purdy's health as he was recovering from a UCL injury he suffered in the NFC Championship last year, which clouded his availability to start 2023.
"So when it first happened, we're really searching, like, 'What are we going to do at quarterback? We don't know if we're going to have Brock back,'" Lynch said, via 49ers Webzone. "Trey [Lance] had been hurt as well. He kind of [suffered] a vicious ankle injury, and that didn't look really good. So we had to look at all our options.
"And I think Kyle and Brock really have honest conversations. At some point, he said, 'Look, I guess the one way you're not a starter if you're healthy is if we go get someone like Brady.' And I presume that's what happened, but anytime you mention something like that, it's obviously going to make quite a story."
Lynch also emphasized that the looking into adding Brady wasn't due to a lack of confidence in Purdy's ability.
"But it wasn't us saying to Brock, 'Hey, we're bringing in Brady. If not, maybe you're the starter,'" Lynch said. "It was, I think, more of a sign of belief in him that, 'Hey, you took us [far] in your rookie year. We believe that you're our guy. As you're healing up, just understand we may have to go secure some other options.' I think then we started tracking his progress, and he was beating every timeline throughout that, as a credit to his healing ability, the genes that he was blessed with. But probably more importantly, the work ethic and the vigor with which he attacked his rehab allowed him to beat all the timelines and be ready right when our season started."
Of course, Purdy started the year healthy and played in all 16 of the team's games (excluding Week 18 when San Francisco was resting starters). Now, he has them on the doorstep of a Super Bowl title, which gives shades of another late-round quarterback bursting out of obscurity in Brady.
