San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy had quite a rise from Mr. Irrelevant in the 2022 NFL Draft to starting quarterback down the stretch for the NFC runner-up Niners.
Entering Year Two, coming off of an elbow injury that knocked him from the NFC Championship Game against the Philadelphia Eagles, expectations are high for the former Iowa State star, who took over due to injury at the position and went on a run under head coach Kyle Shanahan.
Opening his second season in the NFL, Purdy gets a tough test against the Pittsburgh Steelers at Acrisure Stadium Sunday. For former NFL quarterback and ESPN analyst Dan Orlovsky, it will be a pivotal one for Purdy due to the presence of Steelers star outside linebacker T.J. Watt, and especially due to All-Pro safety Minkah Fitzpatrick.
Appearing on ESPN’s Get Up Thursday morning, Orlovsky cautioned Purdy about Fitzpatrick and his overall presence on the field.
“I love Brock Purdy. I think there’s two things: where’s T.J. Watt? And that’s going to be the biggest question mark: where’s T.J. Watt? I love Brock Purdy; I’m a big fan. He ain’t never seen Minkah Fitzpatrick before,” Orlovsky said, according to video via Get Up on ESPN. “Maybe outside of [Seattle’s] Quandre Diggs, he’s never seen a safety like Minkah Fitzpatrick that consistently lies to you, and you have absolutely no idea where he’s gonna be.
“It’s like Ed Reed. I remember playing against Ed Reed and the saying was: he’s not where he’s supposed to be and he’s always where he’s not supposed to be. That’s Minkah Fitzpatrick, and I think that’s an advantage for Pittsburgh.”
San Francisco has great talent offensively with names like Christian McCaffrey, Deebo Samuel, Brandon Aiyuk and George Kittle around Purdy, not to mention some good talent in the trenches led by future Hall of Famer Trent Williams. But for all the attention paid to San Francisco’s playmakers, Fitzpatrick is the trump card.
Purdy has not had to deal with a safety the talent level of Fitzpatrick, one who can freelance, cover a ton of ground, impact the game at all three levels defensively and confuse quarterbacks based on pre-snap alignments and post-snap movement.
The football IQ Fitzpatrick possesses is very clearly one of his many strengths as an elite safety. Even with it being a clear strength, that football IQ is something Fitzpatrick continues to work on to take his game to another level. On top of his elite football IQ, his ball skills are among the best in the NFL, leading the league with in interceptions last season and he’s had at least two every season he’s been in Pittsburgh.
Fitzpatrick’s six interceptions last season made him the first Steeler to achieve that since Hall of Famer Troy Polamalu. Two of Fitzpatrick’s interceptions came late in the fourth quarter to close out wins over the Atlanta Falcons and Baltimore Ravens, propelling the Steelers to a 7-2 stretch run that nearly saw them make the playoffs. Those two interceptions from Fitzpatrick made him the only player in the NFL last season with two interceptions in the final two minutes of games.
Fitzpatrick can do it all. He displays that time and time again in the Black and Gold. He’ll be a real chess piece for the Steelers on Sunday against a young quarterback that there is now tape on after surprising people as a rookie. We’ll see how Purdy handles it. Head coach Kyle Shanahan, too.
The last time Fitzpatrick played the 49ers was in his Steelers debut in Week Three of the 2019 season. That day, Fitzpatrick had five tackles, an interception and a forced fumble, making an impact right away and creating problems for Shanahan’s high-powered offense.
