Brock Purdy Fantasy Overview

2024 Summary

Production & Fantasy Finishes

Purdy landed ninth among QBs in fantasy points per game last season (4-point TD passes), falling just 0.6 PPG short of his 2023 rate.

He finished nine weeks among the top 12 fantasy QBs, among 15 games played. That nearly matched Purdy’s 10 top-12 finishes among 16 games in 2023.

His 2024 included five top-6 weeks, edging the previous season by one.

Purdy did his scoring much differently in 2024, though.

Running Brock Purdy Now?

Purdy more than doubled his rushing points in his second full starting season. In 2023, Purdy scored 26.4 fantasy points via the run – 7.5% of his season total. Those numbers spiked to 62.3 points and 19.4% of the total last year.

Purdy …

• Ran more: 4.4 carries per game vs. 2.4
• Gained yards more efficiently: 4.9 per rush vs. 3.7
• And he scored five times vs. three combined over his first two seasons

Purdy dropped back slightly less last season (35.8 per game vs. 38.6 per game the year before), but the 49ers passed at almost exactly the same rate in neutral situations:

• 53.0% in 2024
• 53.6% in 2023

Purdy scrambled a lot more in 2024, however – 20 times more than he did in 2023, according to Pro Football Focus. That powered a jump from 144 rushing yards in 2023 to 323 last year, 11th-most among QBs.

McCaffrey Loss Changed Things

Purdy said a few times during the season that he found more time in the pocket because of defenses dropping more guys into coverage with Christian McCaffrey not around.

The QB also likely got a goal-line boost from McCaffrey’s absence. Purdy rushed just three times from inside the 10-yard line in 2021, scoring twice. Last year, he logged 10 carries in that range and scored on five of them – including runs of 1, 1, and 2 yards.

McCaffrey’s status also impacted the short passing game. Purdy threw 14.1% of his 2023 attempts behind the line of scrimmage, according to PFF. That dipped to 9.7% last season, with the extra share shifting primarily to the “short” range (0-9 yards).

Efficiency Metrics

Purdy’s increase in rushing production overshadowed dips on the passing side, but that was bound to happen given the 2023 heights.

Purdy led the league that season in:

• TD rate (7.0%)
• Yards per attempt (9.6)
• Yards per completion (13.9)

The TD rate tumbled to 19th in the league last year, with his 4.4% falling just below the league average.

Purdy’s yards per attempt and yards per completion each dropped by 1.0+, but the lowered rates still ranked him third in the league.

Kyle Shanahan QBs always do well in those categories.

Offensive Context

Purdy had to deal not only with missing McCaffrey last season. He also lost Brandon Aiyuk to an ACL tear in Week 7, and got limited work with the WR ahead of September because of Aiyuk’s contract standoff with the team.

Deebo Samuel also missed his customary two games. Jauan Jennings wound up as the only 49er to reach 100 targets (113) after topping out at 56 through his first three seasons.

Historical Production & Trends

College Purdy ran a lot more like the 2024 version than the guy who sported his jersey the previous two seasons.

Purdy ran for at least 342 yards in each of his four Iowa State seasons, averaging 4.8 yards per rush for his career, according to PFF. Even the official NCAA stats – which subtract sack yardage from a QB’s rushing yards – had Purdy going for 238+ yards every season.

Purdy notched just a 48th-percentile 40 time at the Combine, though. So last year’s rushing production was probably close to his ceiling. But we should also probably expect yardage production closer to last season’s than his 2023 output.

Injury History

Purdy lost the final game of 2024 to a right-elbow bruise that carries no concern for 2025. He missed Week 12 with a right-shoulder injury but returned the following week and then tossed 7 TD passes over the next four games.

Purdy also hurt his throwing elbow in the playoff loss to the Eagles at the end of his rookie season but returned for a full 2023. The only game he missed that year came because the 49ers had their playoff seed clinched.

2025 Expectations

Supporting Cast

Deebo Samuel’s gone. Brandon Aiyuk’s a question mark. He’s not expected to be ready for Week 1. Beyond that, we’ll have to see.

Kittle’s still around, and McCaffrey’s healthy again. Both will obviously remain key options. And the 49ers should feel good about Jauan Jennings and Ricky Pearsall coming off their 2024 performances.

Jennings led the team across receiving categories in his fourth season. Pearsall sat out the first six games after getting shot in a robbery attempt in August. But he played 67.5% of the snaps from his Week 7 debut on.

Pearsall closed out the year with receiving lines of 8-141-1 and 6-69-1 in the final two contests.

Coaching & Offensive Scheme

Shanahan’s scheme consistently supports yardage efficiency near or at the top of the league. That proved true even with fill-in QBs such as Nick Mullens and C.J. Beathard. So we should expect it to stay that way through WR corps changes.

The 49ers fell from second in the league in 2023 scoring to just 13th last year. But they finished fourth in total yards, fourth in yards per play, and ninth in offensive DVOA (down from first, but still good).

This offense should either rebound some in TDs or tumble in the other categories.

Production & Efficiency Trends

Purdy’s passing TDs likely need to rebound to support QB1-level production. That seems likely after he fell from tops in the league in TD rate to below average. Purdy should settle between those two markers on the spectrum.

Despite last year’s 11-TD decline on the passing side, Purdy accounted for 62.5% of San Francisco’s TDs – either rushing or passing. That fell only a bit from 66% in 2023.