When low-rated quarterbacks succeed in offenses designed to maximize their efficiency and explosiveness, we generally tag them with the pejorative “system quarterback” label, and we move on. What we tend to ignore in that decision is that every quarterback is a system quarterback. It is the rare quarterback who can consistently succeed despite a system that is not attuned to success in the passing game. We can always find contrary examples — think of Aaron Rodgers playing hero-ball because he had to in Mike McCarthy’s reductive playbooks for years — but passing games that work, work because there is an ideal marriage of quarterback and scheme.
This discussion has been surrounding San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy since Purdy became the team’s starter in Week 13 of the 2022 season. The then-rookie, famously the final player selected in the draft that year, has blossomed into the perfect distiller of head coach Kyle Shanahan’s offense, especially in recent weeks.
