Kirk, Or A Potential First Round QB in 2024?

Some interesting tids here:







Also, from Purple Insider:



Link:

purpleinsider.substack.com/p/friday-mailbag-how-did-the-nfl-miss

That is somewhat encouraging that the Vikings identified Purdy as a QB prospect worth pursuing. It would have been nice had they actually drafted him though.

I interpret "heavily pursued" as "willing to give a big UDFA bonus", similar to how they've given [relatively] big bonuses to Zach McCloud, Luiji Vilain, Ivan Pace Jr, and Andre Carter II. Similar to those guys, the Vikings liked Purdy but not more than the guys they spent 6th/7th round picks on.

Though I do find it odd that they did not end up signing a UDFA QB in 2022... hmmm.

I do follow College Football pretty closely and I was quite familiar with Brock Purdy after watching a fair # of his games at Iowa St and nothing every popped-out to me as nothing more than a late Day 3 Draft pick that would be battling for a QB2/QB3 job in the NFL.

Here is what his NFL Draft Profile had to say (from NFL.com's Lance Zierlein) - link:
The S2 Cognition Test was a popular "smoking gun" theory by many this past offseason as to why Purdy "hit" for the 49ers as a late Rd QB in the 2022 Draft, but that theory isn't holding up this season as Bryce Young arguably had one of the best S2 Cognition Test scores ever, while CJ Stroud's was poor...and Stroud is certainly having more success in his Year 1 so far than Bryce Young is. 

And the theory that Purdy had a bunch of experience (ie, 4-yr starter) doesn't hold too much water because Kellen Mond was a 4-yr starter in a better Conference (SEC) and Mond can't play in the NFL (at least he hasn't shown the ability yet). 

There's something you mentioned that stands out in that Draft Profile and could give us a clue why Purdy "hit" w/ the 49ers: coaching and surroundings, or simply put, the team that drafted him and the offensive system they run. In that Zierlein Draft Profile, he mentions Purdy needs a play-action based offense where he can rely on timing over arm strength....hmmm, anyone know a few offenses that rely on play-action and timing? We can all guess one - Shanahan's West Coast system. 

When you combine Purdy's experience (not new to being under center), his physical endurance (no injury concerns in College), solid stats (67.2% career COMP rate in College and relatively low INT %) and the team fit with Shanahan's offensive West Coast style system, the picture does become somewhat clearer as to why the 49ers took a dart throw with Purdy vs other UDFA QB's from the 2022 Draft (Notre Dame's Jack Coan, Brown's EJ Perry, California's Chase Garbers, Nevada's Carson Strong, etc.) and perhaps why he's had a solid start to his NFL career. Even though O'Connell's offense doesn't seem to the same as Shanahan's West Coast system, it's not that far off so you can see how O'Connell and the offensive minds in Minnesota might have been interested in him, too. 

Purdy mentioned that he was considering the Vikings, 49ers and Texans as his options if he went undrafted, and it should be noted that in 2022, Houston's OC was Pep Hamilton who also has roots in the West Coast Offense so team fit, coaching and surroundings certainly do play a part in determining which teams draft which players and how those players perform once they get there. 

Lastly, I know if Funkytown reads this she's going to ask a question, so I mine as well answer it now: I'm already looking at the QB's eligible in the 2024 Draft and look at their stats on a weekly basis (you can follow this thread in the College/Draft subform for that - link), but I'm also working on an article that looks at the top QB's drafted in the NFL in the last 5 years and how well they've performed in hopes of finding some statistical clues that could give additional insight into the 2024 Draft-eligble QB prospects. That should be out relatively soon and this thread has given me the idea of throwing both Purdy and Kellen Mond into that mix: I was initially only going to look at the QB's drafted in Rounds 1-3 (Day 1 & Day 2) because the Vikings do seem to be leaning towards drafting a QB in the early rounds in 2024, but I do want to throw both Purdy & Mond into the mix as two examples of QB's who did/didn't work out in the NFL and look at their college stats compared to NFL stats to see if anything sticks out against the other Day 1/Day 2 QB's. 

He looked a heck of a lot better than the young guy on the other sidelines.

Hmm that's what everyone said about the Vikings first 6 games.   If this if that if this if that.