Brock Purdy

The last pick in the 2022 draft, Purdy had a remarkable run last season before ending on a sour note with an elbow injury in the NFC Championship Game. Before that, he seemingly had proven enough to earn the starting job for this season. In the last six regular-season games (five starts), Purdy threw 13 TDs and three interceptions as the 49ers went 6-0. He was highly accurate (7th in on-target percentage), but that was partly because he didn’t stretch the field -- his average target depth was just 6.9 yards and a mere 5.3 percent of his attempts surpassed 20 yards, third lowest among QBs with at least 170 attempts. He benefited from the 49ers’ league-high 6.6 YAC average -- a number that won't necessarily regress given the 49ers' excellent collection of skill players and history of YAC-heavy offenses under Kyle Shanahan. If Purdy goes downfield more, all the better. Shanahan said in May that Purdy is expected to be ready for training camp after having UCL surgery in March. That seems optimistic, so it's possible Trey Lance or Sam Darnold ends up starting Week 1. In Lance's case, there's a chance he doesn't give the starting job back if he gets it, considering he was the third overall pick in 2021 and is actually a few months younger than Purdy. Read Past Outlooks