Brock Purdy might not be known for his arm strength, but when the 49ers quarterback needs to throw deep, he oftentimes gets the job done.
Pro Football Focus' Jim Wyman highlighted in a recent article the top 10 quarterbacks by targeted depth in the 2023 NFL season. Purdy, impressively, earned a near-perfect grade on downfield passes of 20 yards or more.
"Brock Purdy's deep ball earned him a 99.9 passing grade: On balls targeted 20 or more yards downfield, Purdy completed 30-of-53 passes for 956 yards, 11 touchdowns and only one interception," Wyman wrote.
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Here is the rest of the top 10:
| Rank | Player | Team | Passing Grade | Passing Yards |
| 1 | Brock Purdy | San Francisco 49ers | 99.9 | 956 |
| 2 | C.J. Stroud | Houston Texans | 98.6 | 1204 |
| 3 | Matthew Stafford | Los Angeles Rams | 97.8 | 948 |
| 4 | Justin Fields | Chicago Bears | 96.7 | 697 |
| 5 | Trevor Lawrence | Jacksonville Jaguars | 96.6 | 1072 |
| 6 | Tua Tagovailoa | Miami Dolphins | 96.2 | 1172 |
| 7 | Dak Prescott | Dallas Cowboys | 96.1 | 1024 |
| 8 | Geno Smith | Seattle Seahawks | 95.6 | 811 |
| 9 | Jared Goff | Detroit Lions | 92.7 | 813 |
| 10 | Russell Wilson | Denver Broncos | 92.3 | 855 |
One common criticism of Purdy is that he's a system quarterback who benefits from the yards-after-catch ability of his playmakers on short and intermediate passes, rather than his arm talent.
While Purdy does excel on passes 20 yards or shorter, he was not among the top 10 highest-graded on short or intermediate passes.
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Purdy's arm strength was a big question mark heading into the 2023 season after he underwent offseason UCL surgery last spring, but as the stats show, he had little-to-no issues on deep passes.