Brock Purdy Jan 29, 2023; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy (13) throws a pass against the Philadelphia Eagles during the first quarter in the NFC Championship game at Lincoln Financial Field. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports

Last year, Brock Purdy took over for the San Francisco 49ers late in the season following an injury to Jimmy Garopollo, and he wasted no time in dominating the league, even though he was just a rookie who had just been the last overall selection in the 2022 NFL Draft. But put into context, his season might be even more impressive.

As NFL analyst David Lombardi points out, Brock Purdy’s accuracy on intermediate throws was the best we’ve seen since Pro Football Focus began charting data.

“This is remarkable on a number of levels…

Best completion percentages on PFF’s record for intermediate (10-19 yards) passes, minimum 20% of qualifying attempts:

1. Brock Purdy (2022), 49ers: 80.4%
2. Kirk Cousins (2019), Vikings: 72.9%
3. Joe Burrow (2021), Bengals: 71.9%,” David Lombardi said in a tweet.

But as Lombardi goes on to explain, Purdy himself doesn’t deserve all the credit because Kyle Shanahan has also done an exceptional job at setting up Purdy for success.

“We literally hadn’t seen anything like Purdy’s 2022 before, at least since these passing splits have existed. But there’s also an interesting correlation among many of the QBs on the intermediate leaderboard in both comp% and YPA: They’ve played for Kyle Shanahan at some point,” Lombardi said in a follow-up tweet. “Case in point… Highest YPA on record on intermediate passes: 2018 Nick Mullens, 49ers: 15.0 YPA. Jimmy Garoppolo, Matt Ryan and even Sage Rosenfels (when he played with Shanahan in Houston) delivered notable intermediate efficiency.”

It seems that Purdy and Shanahan are simply a perfect duo. And the good news for the San Francisco 49ers is that it does not seem like either one is going anywhere else anytime soon.

[David Lombardi]