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Brock Purdy has had an MVP-calibre opening act to the season
Since 1976 the final pick of every NFL draft has been given the moniker 'Mr Irrelevant'.
In the last decade some of these picks, like Chad Kelly, Grant Stuard and Red Murdock, would have sounded more at home in _The Good, the Bad and the Ugly_ than on the gridiron.
Sprinkled in among these outlaws is a gunslinger who is making a serious case to go from Mr Irrelevant to Most Valuable Player.
Brock Purdy was never expected to be the starter, let alone an MVP front-runner. Two years before he was drafted, the 49ers made the Super Bowl with Jimmy Garoppolo. A year later they traded a haul of draft picks to move up to third in the draft and selected their future signal-caller, Trey Lance.
Unsurprisingly, the last pick in the draft entered his rookie season bottom of the depth chart. He saw his first action in Week 13 when both Lance and Garopolo went down injured. When he took the reins as a starter, he never let them go, winning his first seven games, two of which were in the play-offs.
But as fate would have it, one game from a miraculous Super Bowl run, Purdy too would go down injured, ending their season in the NFC championship against the Eagles. Those eight games were all Kyle Shanahan and John Lynch needed to see to believe he was their man going forward.
A Super Bowl appearance and Pro Bowl selection followed, yet, given the coaching staff and talent around him, he was labelled "system quarterback". His numbers and performances, critics argued, were propped up by Shanahan's offensive scheme, All-Pro teammates like Christian McCaffrey and George Kittle, and one of the NFL's best defences to keep the team in games when he struggled.
This season, though, has proved that maybe he is the system.
The Niners perfect 4-0 start for the Niners has largely been because of Purdy's MVP-calibre opening act to the season. Through four games, he is tied for the league lead in passing touchdowns and leads the league in passer rating, has more rushing yards than Josh Allen, and has been far and away been the most efficient quarterback with his EPA per dropback of 0.53, well ahead of Lamar Jackson's 0.29.
He's quite literally been untouchable so far, having not taken a single sack, producing what could be the throw of the season against the Cardinals in Week 3, and becoming the first 49ers quarterback since Hall of Famer Steve Young to start a season with multiple touchdown passes in each of his first four games.
While he has had his top playmakers like Christian McCaffrey and George Kittle available to him so far, the offence has not been fully healthy. A total of 10 offensive players are currently listed as being on the Injured Reserve or unavailable.
That list includes former first-round pick Ricky Pearsall, potential rookie standout De'Zhaun Stribling and Brandon Aiyuk, the team's third-highest-paid player who has not played a game for the team since 2024 due to injuries and a subsequent contract dispute which has seen him actively cheer for other teams in hopes of forcing a trade.
Every season there is a debate on whether the MVP award actually lives up to its name.
Last season's MVP race showed just how much the award can divide opinion. Matthew Stafford won after leading the league in passing yards and touchdowns, narrowly beating Drake Maye, whose own case was built around leading New England from a poor previous season to the Super Bowl.
Stafford had the numbers, but many argued that Maye offered more value given the lack of support around him. It was a reminder that the MVP award is about more than statistics alone. A debate like that may not be needed this season, as so far Purdy has fulfilled both the statistical and storyline elements that fans and voters alike cherish so much.
This weekend's matchup against the defending champion Seattle Seahawks will be a real test for Purdy and the 49ers. In their last 13 games the 49ers are 11-2; those two losses, though, came at the hands of the Seahawks, who beat them in a combined score of 54-9.
A strong performance and a win over a division rival would only strengthen Purdy's MVP case, making the man once dubbed Mr Irrelevant impossible to ignore.
**Games to Watch This Weekend**
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**Philadelphia Eagles vs Jacksonville Jaguars**
London has struggled to pull big-time matchups over the years, but Eagles' star power and the Jaguars' emergence over the last year make this one a can't-miss.
**Seattle Seahawks vs San Francisco 49ers**
One of the defining rivalries of the early 2010s looks set to rear its head once again, with both teams starting the season in red-hot form.
**Atlanta Falcons vs Baltimore Ravens**
A shootout could be on the cards, with Atlanta boasting one of the league's most productive offences over the past two weeks, while Lamar Jackson is coming off his best passing performance of the season.