Eight starts may not be enough to crown Brock Purdy a franchise quarterback, but his play matched the results of an S2 Cognition test he took before the draft that put him on par with some of the NFL’s elite QBs.
Matt Barrows of the Athletic wrote a fascinating story about the S2 cognition test that’s making waves in the NFL. One bit sticks out as it pertains to Purdy, who scored alongside the likes of Drew Brees and Patrick Mahomes.
From Barrows:
He couldn’t give out Purdy’s exact score because it’s privileged information but said it was in the “mid 90s.” That’s about where Brees, the former Saints quarterback famous for lightning-fast decision-making, scored and where two of the top passers in the league now, the Chiefs’ Patrick Mahomes and the Bills’ Josh Allen, also landed. The Bengals’ Joe Burrow took the test while at LSU and agreed to allow S2 to disclose the information.
Of course he did — he scored in the 97th percentile.
One of the founders of S2 Cognition, Brandon Ally, told Barrows that anything above 80 percent is considered elite.
While the story delves into uses for the test at QB and other positions, the predictive element helps tell two stories.
First, it shows Purdy’s terrific rookie performance as the final pick in the draft wasn’t necessarily out of nowhere and didn’t come with a ton of luck. Whether it was his first real action against the Dolphins, his dominance of the Buccaneers the following week or his playoff outing vs. the Cowboys where he was under fire all game, Purdy never looked overwhelmed for long by the jump from college to the NFL. This gives some explanation beyond just “ice in his veins” or the number of starts he made at Iowa State.
The second thing it illuminates is why the 49ers, per various reports, are ready to roll with Purdy as the starter despite picking QB Trey Lance No. 3 overall in the 2021 draft. Lance didn’t score poorly on the S2 test, but he fell short of Purdy’s mark per Barrows’ story.
Injuries have thrown a wrench into the QB plan for San Francisco which could open the door for Lance to push his way into the starting job again. However, the results of the S2 test give an explanation of why the 49ers were so ready to move forward after a relatively small sample size from the No. 262 overall pick. It may have just been a flash in the pan, but the evidence suggests Purdy won’t see some steep drop off over the course of a larger sample. In fact, it indicates he could get even better as he gains more experience against NFL defenses.
This isn’t to say Purdy is the next Mahomes, or even the next Brees. But the fact some on-field results can now be paired with the predictive side of the S2 test, San Francisco just might have its franchise QB.
