San Francisco 49ers Superstar Fires Back at Brock Purdy Extension Critics

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Brock Purdy and George Kittle celebrate a touchdown scored by Deebo Samuel against the New York Giants on September 21, 2023.

San Francisco 49ers tight end George Kittle has enjoyed a 2025 offseason devoid of any quarterback uncertainty.

“It’s actually my first offseason I think without some type of quarterback drama,” Kittle said on the Rich Eisen show on Monday June 16, 2025.

💻 @gkittle46

Has the @49ers All-Pro tight end been as surprised as the rest of us at the lack of offseason drama in San Francisco?

#NFL #FTTB

For the first time in decades, the 49ers have found a young, star player in Brock Purdy who they believe to be their franchise quarterback. They made that belief clear when they signed Purdy to a five-year, $265 million contract extension on May 20, 2025 that hands Purdy the keys to the 49ers offense through at least the 2030 season.

But many league analysts and talking heads have still been trying to find ways to discredit Purdy for his accomplishments, suggesting the 49ers have invested too much belief, and money, in Purdy.

Kittle completely dismissed any of that talk while on the Eisen show.

“I don’t know what his winning percentage is but when you win a lot of games and then in two years you go to the NFC championship or better, I think that’s decent!” Kittle said.

Kittle thinks that this conversation about Purdy’s worth only exists because his so-called shortcomings have been blown way out of proportion.

“One of my favorite things about Purdy is that everyone calls him a checkdown merchant and then like the last two years he’s had the least amount of checkdowns in the NFL as a starting quarterback,” Kittle said. “Yeah, so I think he’s doing pretty well.”

Kittle Has Seen a lot of QBs in SF

Since Kittle was drafted in the fifth round by the 49ers in 2017, the 49ers have started 9 different quarterbacks.

Brian Hoyer was the 49ers starting quarterback during Kittle’s rookie debut in 2017. He’s been around for the failed Trey Lance experiment, the highs and lows of Jimmy Garoppolo, the struggles of his former college teammate CJ Beathard, the Nick Mullens era, and the spot starts of several other players.

The bottom line is, he’s seen a lot of NFL quarterbacks. Some good, some not so good.

Kittle’s the kind of teammate that will always stand behind his guys, but even he seems to have a peace, security and belief in Purdy that he’s never had in any other quarterback in any previous offseason.

And as one of the guys who knows Purdy the best given that he catches passes from him, Kittle’s word has to be worth something.

The Stats Back Up Kittle’s Claims

Pro Football Focus confirms exactly what Kittle claimed about Purdy’s passing tendencies: he throws checkdowns at an exceptionally low rate.

In fact, Purdy had the second-lowest checkdown rate in the NFL in 2024, only throwing checkdown passes 7.2% of the time.

2. Brock Purdy – 7.2%

Which QBs relied on checkdown passes the least in 2024 🚀

Purdy is also a winner, having gone 23-13 in the regular season and 4-2 in the playoffs during his NFL career. He did, in fact, make the NFC championship during his first season as the starter and the Super Bowl in his second season. He was also a Pro Bowler in 2023.

NFL fans have trouble putting their faith in any 49ers QB after so many in recent years like Garoppolo and even Colin Kaepernick showed some promise and then fizzled out.

But even Garropolo, a seasoned veteran who made a Super Bowl and NFC championship with the 49ers during his tenure, never threw for over 4,000 yards or made a Pro Bowl in his 49ers tenure. Purdy did both of those things in just his first season in San Francisco.

Purdy and the 49ers did struggle a little in 2024: they were 6-9 with Purdy as the starter. But, most of the 49ers key players were injured. With a healthy and retooled roster in 2025, look for Purdy to return to Pro Bowl form.

Ethan Inman is a sports journalist covering the San Francisco 49ers, San Francisco Giants and Las Vegas Raiders for Heavy sports. He also co-hosts a college football podcast for The Voice of College Football, and writes about the NBA and MLB. He has previously covered the USC Trojans, the NHL, college baseball, and the intersection of sports and popular culture for other publications. He is based in the greater Los Angeles area. More about Ethan Inman