Arik Armstead is no longer on the 49ers, but he told FS1 what we’ve all been saying about Brock Purdy
Regardless of where we are in a 49ers’ offseason, it seems the Brock Purdy takes are going to be one of the talking points in the media, namely, if he’s good or not. Now that he’s gotten paid, it’s only more of a discussion on whether he’s worth it or not.
Enter Arik Armstead, former 49ers’ defensive lineman, 2016 first-round pick, and all-around good dude. Armstead joined the FS1 First Things First crew, which includes analyst Nick Wright. You know him best as the guy who says the 49ers weren’t going to the Super Bowl in 2018 because they didn’t invest first-round picks in skill position players. Oh, and then there’s the constant goal-post moving he does when regarding Brock Purdy’s play.
Here’s the brief exchange between Armstead and the group”
Arik Armstead: “I’ll tell you this. I talked to a lot of the receivers at the time—Aiyuk, Deebo— Like, “what’s the difference?”
“Because, I felt like in 2023 that was the best offense we’ve had in my entire tenure of that time.”
Nick Wright: “And they said “Chrisitan McCaffrey””
Armstead: “Obviously Chrisitan had an awesome year, but it all goes hand in hand. When I talked to the receivers though, the major difference on how Brock changed our team was the receivers felt like they could get the ball on any play. It switched from, “OK I’m out of the progression, I’m just doing a run off route.” to, “I better run my best route regardless of the play because Purdy may just throw it to me and I feel like I’m better than the DB covering me and give me the opportunity” and the receivers love that and you can see how our offense took off that year.”
Here are some of the quarterbacks Arik Armstead played with before Brock Purdy
- Colin Kaepernick
- Blaine Gabbert
- Brian Hoyer
- Nick Mullens
- Jimmy Garoppolo
If anyone has seen the yin and yang of the 49ers’ quarterback situation, it’s Arik Armstead, especially when you have the above in your mind. Before Purdy, it felt like you were holding your breath when some of those quarterbacks ever attempted any passes that went above 5 on the 1-10 difficulty scale. Sure, Jimmy Garoppolo may have been the best of them in the Kyle Shanahan era, but even then, your heart was pounding when the ball flew off the screen until you saw it safely in a receiver’s hands.
And Purdy was the first quarterback you’d consistently see the helmet moving as he goes through reads—without throwing a bonehead interception.
Given that Armstead has seen both the best (Kyle Shanahan) and worst (Jim Tomsula/Chip Kelly) he knows what a bad dysfunctional team is. He also knows when a quarterback has issues.
So here he is, with his firsthand account of why Brock Purdy is a good quarterback and worth that money.