Brock Purdy has been impressive as a seventh-round rookie quarterback put into duty for the 49ers.
Part of the reason why he’s been able to keep the club a viable Super Bowl contender has been the talent around him. But he’s also been particularly coachable, according to head coach Kyle Shanahan.
“When you coach someone, you want them to get better, whether you’re right, wrong or whatever,” Shanahan told reporters on Wednesday, via Tom Dierberger of NBCSportsBayArea.com. “It’s just about getting someone better, and sometimes you have to understand the personality of someone, and even if you’re saying the right coaching point, some people don’t hear it the right way, sometimes it can mess them up.
“So you have to find a way to get it to him, and just working his personality, it’s been really easy because I don’t really have to worry about how he’s feeling that much. You just tell him what you see because that’s what he wants. He likes to be coached. He’s smart, he kind of has an idea of our philosophy, so he’s going to watch it on his own. By the time he gets to me, I think he has an idea of what I’m going to say. But the more he plays, the more stuff that comes up, and I don’t care how good a quarterback plays, you can sit there and coach him on everything all the time.”
Shanahan compared working with Purdy to working with Matt Scauab, and noted that Purdy doesn’t need much praise when talking about his play.
“I remember when I used to meet Matt Schaub on the bus after we would land somewhere,” Shanahan said, “and we’d always watch the game on the plane, and I’d go sit by him and I would be like, ‘All right, man, you did play really good except for plays nine, 12 and 13.’ And he’d always go, ‘Oh, what about the plays I played good on?’ I’m like, ‘Those don’t matter. That’s what we expect.’
“But when you have guys who just want to be coached and you don’t need to tell them 10 compliments before you tell them a coaching point, then it’s a lot more fun, and I think that’s how he gets better.”
Purdy told reporters in his Thursday press conference that he’s “always wanted the truth and honesty from a coach.”
“I’ve always appreciated a coach who’s just real with me with what I need to get better at or what I need to do to be better,” Purdy said. “In terms of a coach telling you everything’s all good, I’m not about that.
“You can’t get better from that, so when coach is real with me about this past game or any other games that I’ve played in, I appreciate that more than telling me that I’m good and I don’t need to work on anything, so I think just all throughout my career, I’ve sort of developed that kind of mentality.”
Since taking over for Jimmy Garoppolo, Purdy has completed 66 percent of his passes for 1,196 yards with 10 touchdowns and four interceptions — good for a 101.4 passer rating. He’s also averaging 8.0 yards per attempt.
Time will tell if the 49ers can roll with Purdy to Super Bowl LVII. But if Purdy continues his trajectory, they should certainly be in the mix for it later this month.