When teams selected the NFL stars of the future in the 2022 draft, no one wanted to go anywhere near Brock Purdy – and it was hard to blame them. He had a good college career at Iowa State but the scouting reports hardly screamed The Next Tom Brady: “throwing is more of a chore than a talent”, “lacks quickness”, “a scrappy runner but not dynamic”, “shies away from tight throws”. At least Purdy was consistent: by the sport’s exacting standards, he appeared to be bad at everything.
But the San Francisco 49ers’ Kyle Shanahan, known as one of the finest offensive-minded head coaches in the NFL, had been impressed by Purdy’s tape from college and selected him with the 262nd – and final – pick of the draft, a position that each year earns one player the nickname “Mr Irrelevant” and plenty of derision on social media.
