Wait, Brock Purdy is good??

If you told an Iowa State fan last year that Brock Purdy would lead the San Fransisco 49ers to a 35-7 win over a Tom Brady-led Buccaneers team, they would have laughed in your face, laughed some more, and then quickly gained concern for your mental state.

Well, here we all stand today. Is Brock Purdy ... good? The last player selected in the 2022 NFL Draft, this season’s Mr. Irrelevant was behind Trey Lance and Jimmy Garoppolo on the depth chart, but a few unfortunate and simultaneous injuries sent him to the top.

Purdy was 16-for-21 in the win over the Bucs, passing for two touchdowns and 185 yards. He added a rushing touchdown as well.

Purdy had a solid performance after filling in for an injured Garoppolo against the Dolphins in Week 13 as well, completing 25 passes for two touchdowns and one interception. He will be San Francisco’s starting quarterback for the remainder of the season.

His rookie performance has some college football followers raising their eyebrows. At Iowa State, Purdy was a four-year starter who had some shining moments that gave Cyclones fans reason to hope and other moments that made Iowa State viewers scratch their heads in total confusion — the backwards pick six and the Cheez-It Bowl 4th-down-conversion-turned-fumble come to mind.

But Purdy certainly didn’t have the level of talent around him in Ames that he does in San Francisco, and sometimes it’s just about being the right player for a system and a fit. And now that teams will have some game tape on Purdy, things might start to be more difficult for him going forward. The NFL forces even the best to adjust what they do.

But for those that follow the college game more closely than the NFL, his final stat line of 16-21 for 185 yards in a 35-7 blowout win over Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to go to 1-0 as an NFL starter certainly came as a bit of a surprise.