A seemingly unrelated series of events from the 2017 NFL season eventually led the 49ers to obtain the last pick in the 2022 NFL Draft, where San Francisco selected quarterback Brock Purdy.
As ESPN insider Adam Schefter detailed on the “Pardon My Take” podcast, the 49ers were not seriously invested in many quarterbacks during the 2017 draft, which famously featured the likes of Kansas City Chiefs signal-caller Patrick Mahomes and Deshaun Watson.
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Instead, Schefter described how the 49ers had different plans at quarterback during that draft, only selecting C.J. Beathard after trading up to select him in the third round.
“The draft where the 49ers in 2017 had the second overall pick, Patrick Mahomes was in that draft, and they didn’t do any work on him because they thought the following offseason Kirk Cousins was leaving Washington [Commanders],” Schefter said.
“And this gets better and better, so Kirk Cousins is leaving Washington, they thought he would want to be there [in San Francisco], they would want him there and it’s a layup so there’s no reason to do any real work on the quarterbacks in the 2017 draft so why do you need to work on Patrick Mahomes or Deshaun Watson when you know you’re going to get Kirk Cousins?"
Schefter then detailed how the 49ers acquiring quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo in a midseason trade with the New England Patriots later that season blew up any plans the team had of pursuing Cousins, which eventually led San Francisco to keep Beathard as a backup to Garoppolo before receiving a compensatory draft pick once the University of Iowa product left.
San Francisco 49ers
“Well, what happens is New England [Patriots] calls up San Francisco that Halloween and is like ‘Hey we got to move on from Jimmy Garoppolo, just give us a two [second-round pick],'" Schefter added. "Well, they do that, so that blows up the Kirk Cousins plan.
“But back to that draft in 2017, the only quarterback that they did extensive work on, that they wound up trading up for in the third round, they moved up to take C.J. Beathard. And when C.J. Beathard left after four years and signed with Jacksonville [Jaguars], the 49ers got a compensatory seventh-round draft pick. And with that compensatory seventh-round draft pick, that they got from the draft in which they bypassed Patrick Mahomes, they took Brock Purdy.”
Not much was made of the Purdy pick at the time, but the young quarterback has blossomed into one of the best signal-callers in the NFL after taking over the starting job for an injured Garoppolo during the 2022 season. In his first full season as the starter, Purdy finished fourth in the NFL MVP vote, set a single-season franchise record for passing yards and led San Francisco back to the Super Bowl.
Purdy’s unlikely rise has been the talk of the league, with a seemingly equal amount of people praising and criticizing him for his on-field performance. Due to this relatively cheap rookie contract, the 49ers have been able to build a talented roster of offensive playmakers around Purdy, a key component of the recent run of success the team has had.
There still are plenty of contract questions for the 49ers to figure out this offseason as they look to overcome their heartbreaking Super Bowl LVIII loss to the Kansas City Chiefs and stay competitive in the fast-paced world of the NFL.