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San Francisco 49ers’ quarterback Brock Purdy drops back to pass the ball against the Detroit Lions at Levi’s Stadium

San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy plays in some significant shadows of quarterback legends in the Bay Area.

The biggest one of all, Joe Montana, offered his thoughts recently regarding Purdy’s five-year, $265 million deal with the 49ers. Montana led the 49ers to four Super Bowl wins with the 49ers during his career with the team from 1979 to 1992.

“He plays within himself,” Montana told Cam Inman of the Mercury News. “Usually, you see in the second year — which he didn’t really do much — is try so much to be better and, ‘Oh, I can do this now.’ You see a lot of that from the first-year wonders, and you think, what are they going to do next year, and they think they can do everything. He played within himself and did what he’s supposed to.”

‘It’s Not Like He Hasn’t Done The Job’

GettyBrock Purdy of the San Francisco 49ers

Purdy has a vast journey ahead to match Montana despite a strong career start. The fourth-year quarterback has one Super Bowl appearance, which resulted in a loss to the Kansas City Chiefs for the 2023 season. In addition, Purdy had a losing season after the Super Bowl appearance.

That said, the former Mr. Irrelevant has emerged as a franchise quarterback for the team in three seasons with two NFC Championship Game appearances and a 23-13 regular season record. Purdy has completed 67.5% of his passes for 9,518 yards for 64 touchdowns and 27 interceptions in his young career out of Iowa State.

“It’s not like he hasn’t done the job,” Montana told Inman. “He’s been fairly consistent. He had a lot of injuries. Those are all the tough to deal with.”

Joe Montana Understands Where Brock Purdy Has Been

Montana knows firsthand about injuries derailing a season or a season not going as planned. He notably had a  losing record with the 49ers three different times in his Hall of Fame career.

As a rookie in 1979, Montana only started one game and lost, and he went 2-5 as a starter in  1980. However, Montana had his moments, too, in the early going with his first fourth quarter comeback win in 1980 against the New Orleans Saints.

Montana led the 49ers to the franchise’s first Super Bowl win the following season when “The Catch” occurred against the Dallas Cowboys in the NFC Championship Game. Things didn’t go as planned the following season, however, in 1982 when he went 3-6 as a starter amid a strike-shortened season.

Montana’s run of dominance began after that season in 1983, but a back injury in 1986 that sidelined him for eight games impacted the rest of his career. He also suffered an elbow injury and didn’t play in the 1991 season, and that led to Steve Young taking over and Montana’s time ending with the 49ers after the 1992 season.

Purdy had an elbow injury at the end of his rookie season and returned for an MVP-caliber campaign in 2023. While Purdy didn’t reach the same heights in 2024, the 49ers have optimism that he can lead the offense successfully for the next five seasons and possibly beyond.

For now, Purdy and the 49ers look to bounce back from a subpar 2024 season when training camp begins in a couple of weeks.

Matthew Davis covers the NFL, WNBA and college sports for Heavy.com. As a contributing writer to the StarTribune, he has also covered Minnesota prep sports since 2016. More about Matthew Davis

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