Very few people could’ve predicted the success of Brock Purdy, but Brian Griese was one of them.
Griese, who was the 49ers’ quarterbacks coach for three seasons, championed the former Iowa State quarterback when he was heavily involved in San Francisco’s draft evaluation of Purdy in 2022. Griese got to know Purdy through Zoom calls and tape evaluation before the 49ers made him Mr. Irrelevant, an honor bestowed on the last player taken in the draft.
Four years later, Purdy has already quarterbacked the 49ers to the Super Bowl and is now playing like an MVP frontrunner. Griese has since departed the 49ers’ organization, leaving to become a full-time student at Stanford on a fellowship. But I reached out to him this week to find out why he was a Day 1 believer in Purdy, as he quickly formulated the belief that his former pupil had the characteristics to develop into a productive NFL quarterback.
“You knew exactly who Brock was,” Griese told me. “I was able to have a couple of Zoom conversations with him, where you really get to know the person. Brock passed all those tests in my eyes. On top of all that, he really had the values and the qualities to play the position of quarterback at the NFL level, just from a make-up standpoint.”
Griese’s assessment proved accurate. Purdy only needs to throw five more passes entering Week 6 to qualify for the highest career passer rating in NFL history at 105.4. And the 26-year-old Arizona native is orchestrating his best season yet, leading the NFL in touchdown passes (13) and is second in passer rating (119.3, making him the MVP frontrunner as San Francisco is 5-0.
Brian Griese (right) was Brock Purdy’s quarterbacks coach on the 49ers for the first three seasons of Purdy’s career. (Photo by Michael Zagaris/San Francisco 49ers/Getty Images)
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However, Griese believes Purdy is still just scratching the surface of his immense talent; he can play even better.
“When he first started playing, he didn’t know what he didn’t know,” Griese told me. “And he was playing off instinct. Now, he’s been playing for five years, and he should be playing his best ball.
“You just hope for these quarterbacks that it clicks for them mentally. That they grow into the leadership role, and they do that in a time frame where they still have their body, and they can still play at a high level. And this is kind of the sweet spot where Brock is, because all those things are converging.”
Griese pointed to Purdy’s frame (6-foot-1, 220 pounds) as to why he wasn’t drafted higher, failing to match the physical profiles of some of the top quarterbacks in the league like Josh Allen and Patrick Mahomes.
“People were overemphasizing how tall he was, honestly,” Griese told me. “And that was not a big factor for us because of the way he played. There’s an overemphasis on the stat sheet — how tall, how much you weigh and how fast you run. At a lot of other positions, those things are really important,
“But for a quarterback, those things are not more important than the things we evaluate, which is how well do you actually throw the ball? Are you accurate when you throw the ball? Do you make good decisions? Can you process information? Can you lead a team? Can you be responsible? Those are all infinitely more important than how tall you are.”
One of Purdy’s strengths is his willingness and ability to throw with anticipation in head coach Kyle Shanahan’s scheme. Griese said throwing with anticipation is a coachable trait and did not happen by accident for Purdy.
Instead, Griese told me it’s something Purdy improved by mastering Shanahan’s offense, understanding how the defense will react and adjust to the game plan each week.
“He’s able to process that pretty quickly, because he has been disciplined in his prep,” Griese told me. “He can anticipate because he’s prepared. He knows structures and exactly where his guys are supposed to be at a certain timing and rhythm, and he’s able to use his platform and structures around drops and timing of drops to certain routes to take all that information, be decisive in the moment and trust what he’s seeing.
“That decisiveness, aggressiveness and understanding can lead to playing with conviction. Playing with conviction is what you see and label as playing with anticipation.”
Griese expects that decisive play to continue as Purdy’s mastery of Shanahan’s offense improves.
“We talked early on in his career about the fact that if you want to be as good as you want to be, you absolutely have to get better every single day,” Griese told me. “And that’s whether you threw four touchdowns the day before or if you lost by three touchdowns. You have to have the same mindset on Monday morning when you come in. That’s who Brock is.
“He’s sometimes harder on himself after wins than he is on losses. And so that mentality and mindset, no matter what is said outside – which he’s getting a lot of pats on the back right now – I can tell you internally inside that building and inside Brock’s mind he is really hard and disciplined on himself. And he’s finding edges to get better.”
The Rams Have A New Kicker, But Will Results Change?
The Los Angeles Rams are starting over again at the kicker position, waiving Harrison Mevis after two missed field goals in an overtime loss to the Buffalo Bills, including a 48-yarder blocked by edge rusher Greg Rousseau in overtime that would have won the game.
Mevis replaced Joshua Karty in the middle of last season, finishing 12-of-13 on field goals and making all of his attempts in the postseason. But after the UFL product started the year with a league-worst 5-of-9 on field goals, Sean McVay lost confidence in Mevis and moved on.
To replace Mevis, the Rams signed kicker Blake Grupe from the New York Jets’ practice squad. Grupe, 27, spent the previous three seasons between the New Orleans Saints and Indianapolis Colts. He is 86-of-105 on field goals (82%) and 96-of-98 on extra points (98 percent). However, Grupe is 18-of-24 (75%) from 40 to 49 yards and 37-of-51 (72.5%) from 50-plus yards.
“Grupe is super talented and so is Mevis,” Nick Novak, a former NFL kicker for 10 seasons, told me. Novak trains NFL and college kickers in the offseason.
“You never like to see a guy get released in this business,” Novak added. “However, they’ve signed a proven kicker who brings experience and confidence. I’m sure he’s excited for the opportunity and ready to contribute right away.”
The Rams have struggled to stabilize special teams since special teams coordinator John Fassel left the organization to join the Dallas Cowboys in 2020, taking kicker Greg Zuerlein with him. The Rams have had eight different kickers since then, including two kickers they’ve drafted since then in Sam Sloman and Karty. Both failed to stick with the team long-term.
Along with moving on from Mevis, McVay waived punt returner Xavier Smith, who had the muffed punt that cost the Rams points in the NFC Championship Game loss to the Seattle Seahawks last season, earlier in October.
The Rams have also struggled with covering returns, giving up explosive returns in either the punt or kicking game over the last three weeks.
Long snapper and team captain Joe Cardona told me that for special teams to regain confidence from McVay and the entire team, they must start stringing together some solid performances.
“We have to prove with our play that we aren’t a weakness,” Cardona told me. “I don’t think we’ve done that to this point. We have to assess where we’re at and find ways to improve, because this team is too good for there to be mistakes in the kicking game that are costing us.”
Gracen Halton, a fourth-round rookie out of Oklahoma, is part of an unheralded group of pass rushers that finished with five sacks in the win over the Seahawks last week. Entering the Week 5 contest, the 49ers managed just six sacks in four games; there was concern about how they would generate a pass rush against the Super Bowl champs with Nick Bosa still out.
But at 6-3 and 293 pounds, Halton provided a spark in the middle of San Francisco’s defense. Undersized for his position, Halton uses quickness and strength to create positive plays in the interior defensively. And through five games, Halton has been up to the task. He’s played 142 (44%) of the 49ers’ defensive snaps, totaling 14 combined tackles, a sack and four pressures.
Last year’s first-round pick Mykel Williams finally returned from season-ending knee surgery, but he was on a limited snap count. Last season, San Francisco also struggled to consistently get after the quarterback, finishing with a league-low 20 sacks. Keion White currently leads the 49ers with three sacks.
However, Halton created one of the biggest plays of the game last week by penetrating inside and knocking back Seahawks center Jalen Sundell, forcing Seattle running back George Holani to fumble in the end zone and recovering the ball for a score in a momentum-changing play at the end of the first half.
The Oklahoma product finished with two tackles for loss, a sack and three quarterback pressures. It was a dominant defensive effort up front for the 49ers as they consistently harassed Sam Darnold all afternoon, forcing him into two interceptions. Halton played a total of 34 defensive snaps.
Here’s what FOX Sports NFL draft analyst Rob Rang had to say about Halton, who ranked him as his No. 124 prospect in this year’s draft: “Halton may never be a full-time starter, but I like his fit as a quick-twitch interior disruptor in an NFL rotation.”
That seems about right. Halton is a disruptive force inside. And he’s been one of the reasons the undefeated 49ers have held opposing offenses to 98 rushing yards a contest (No. 10 in the NFL) and just 18.8 points per game (No. 3 in the NFL).
Top 5 On The West Side
5. Las Vegas Raiders
The reward for the Raiders after getting shellacked by the Patriots? Josh Allen and the Bills at home this week.
4. Denver Broncos
Sean Payton calling plays looked very similar to Davis Webb calling plays, but a win is still a win as the Broncos improved to 3-2 with their victory over the Chargers.
3. Seattle Seahawks
Who would have thought Drew Lock would have better numbers than Sam Darnold as a starter this year? The Seahawks are also 1-2 in the games Darnold has finished, as I wrote about his concerning turnover issues earlier in the week.
2. San Francisco 49ers
San Francisco has played a league-high 15 players along their defensive line this year. That hasn’t been a problem for the 49ers, though, as they’re 5-0 and in the top spot of every power rankings list … except here.
1. Kansas City Chiefs
One thing to watch for as the 4-0 Chiefs return from their bye week: Travis Kelce needs six catches to pass Hall of Famer Cris Carter (1,101) for sixth-most receptions in league history.
“I didn’t want to be 2-3, but I was proud of that football team last night even though we came up short and it was a valiant effort. Sometimes that’s what happens, and you put yourself out there and there’s always the unpredictability of the outcome. What I want us to do is just consistently get up and keep going forward and be courageous and that’s what I felt from our team last night.”
— Rams head coach Sean McVay on his team’s slow start and belief they can turn things around.
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