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Brock Purdy's San Francisco 49ers teammates, media defend QB amid ongoing criticism

jeremy cluff, arizona republic
·7 min read
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There was a lot of Brock Purdy slander, hate and criticism in the media and on social media Tuesday.

Why?

The Phoenix area native led the San Francisco 49ers to a 24-21 win over the Green Bay Packers in the NFC Playoffs Divisional Round on Saturday night, orchestrating a late game-winning drive as his team overcame a 21-14 deficit.

Purdy ended up going 23-for-39 for 252 yards and a touchdown pass in the win, improving to 3-1 in postseason games. Not too bad for being the last pick in the 2022 NFL Draft.

But evidently not good enough.

ESPN's Ryan Clark slammed Purdy on Tuesday on ESPN's First Take.

"The single hardest thing I had to do this year was act like Brock Purdy deserved to be in the conversations with the other people we're mentioning in that tweet (Josh Allen, Patrick Mahomes and Lamar Jackson)" Clark said. "Because he was playing extremely well and operating in that offense and distributing the ball, is a fine player. Brock Purdy can operate in Kyle Shanahan's offense at an extremely efficient level. Brock Purdy doesn't raise the level of play of anyone around him and so when you talk about Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen,  Lamar Jackson, the people around them benefit from having those sorts of players at the quarterback position. Brock Purdy benefits from having the sort of players he has at the skill positions around him."

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More media criticism of Brock Purdy

Clark wasn't the only NFL personality to be harsh on Purdy, a Gilbert Perry High graduate, whose team hosts the Detroit Lions in the NFC Championship Game on Sunday.

FOX Sports' Nick Wright, Greg Jennings and James Jones and others joined in the criticism of Purdy, who has thrown for 4,280 yards and 31 touchdowns with 11 interceptions on the season and led San Francisco to a 12-5 regular season record.

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Brock Purdy has led the San Francisco 49ers to the NFC Championship Game for a second straight year. It's evidently not good enough, according to some of his NFL critics.
Brock Purdy has led the San Francisco 49ers to the NFC Championship Game for a second straight year. It's evidently not good enough, according to some of his NFL critics.

Brock Purdy's 49ers teammates come to QB's defense

Some San Francisco 49ers players have evidently heard enough criticism of Purdy and his performance. They came to the quarterback's defense on social media and in interviews with the media.

Deebo Samuel wrote that he had "never seen so much hate for a QB that lead the league in almost every category."

Arik Armstead couldn't get over Clark's "Single hardest thing I had to do comment" about Purdy.

Brandon Aiyuk told Clark and others "'Y'all need to stop the DS'n and turn on the tape! That's for everybody. EVERYBODY."

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And George Kittle defended Purdy on the Pat McAfee Show on ESPN.

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Other media members react to Brock Purdy criticism

Pat McAfee, Richard Sherman, Emmanuel Acho, Greg Olsen and others were quick to defend Purdy on television and on social media amid the onslaught of negativity with McAfee saying "we're done with the Brock Purdy slander."

Winning a Super Bowl this year would likely go a long way in quieting some of Purdy's detractors, but he's always going to have them.

It's amazing how much criticism the last pick in the NFL draft can receive.

Evidently, people just can't be happy about Mr. Irrelevant being a very relevant NFL player.

Do you think Brock Purdy deserves all the criticism he receives?

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Reach Jeremy Cluff at jeremy.cluff@arizonarepublic.com. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter @Jeremy_Cluff.

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Brock Purdy media criticism: Why the hate for San Francisco 49ers QB?