Steve Young Advocates for Brock Purdy to Use His Legs More

NFL Hall of Famer and legendary San Francisco 49ers quarterback Steve Young hopes that current quarterback Brock Purdy will have more opportunities to showcase his running ability in the future. In fact, Young believes it is a necessity.

Speaking on 95.7 The Game’s Willard & Dibs show, Young expressed that Purdy’s mobility is being underutilized and made a striking comparison to emphasize his point.

“I said during the season a couple of times, I think Kyle [Shanahan] should call RPOs for Brock,” Young stated. “We should put him on the run out of the huddle where he’s going to carry it. The threat he needs to bring, we understand the processing power… he can do 80 percent of what Jayden [Daniels] is doing with his legs.”

Young pointed to the 2024 playoffs, where quarterbacks like Jayden Daniels, Lamar Jackson, Josh Allen, and Jalen Hurts have been heavily involved in designed run plays. He emphasized that modern quarterbacks must possess the ability to threaten defenses with their mobility.

“I think you have to call plays for it,” Young continued. “You have to threaten the line of scrimmage every time if you’re going to go to the Super Bowl. It feels like obviously into the future you have to have a quarterback that’s going to threaten the line of scrimmage every time they take the ball into their hands.”

Watching the playoffs only reaffirmed this belief for Young. “Every time I watch the playoffs, it reminded me of that truth again,” he said. “And I think you guys are right, Brock can do that. But it’s about risk more, because the ball’s in his hands at the end of the play more often and that’s risky, but I think it has to happen.”

As the 49ers look to build on their recent success, it remains to be seen whether Shanahan will integrate more designed runs for Purdy. If Young’s perspective holds weight, adding this dimension to Purdy’s game could elevate San Francisco’s offense to even greater heights.