These QBs were considered better than Brock Purdy. Now, they’re rooting for him in the Super Bowl

LAS VEGAS — A wealth manager, a former payroll specialist and a tractor company employee were all — not long ago — rated as superior quarterbacks to San Francisco 49ers star Brock Purdy, who’ll be on pro football’s ultimate stage this weekend.

Purdy’s meteoric rise — from dead-last draft pick to MVP finalist and Super Bowl signal caller — laid bare the nearly impossible task of predicting future skill on the gridiron in evaluations that often make or break careers.

Purdy insists that his long, under-the-radar path has been a blessing in disguise.

“It’s been the story of my life, being overlooked in high school, I wasn’t a high recruit,” Purdy told reporters Thursday. “All I needed was a shot and an opportunity, and coach [Matt] Campbell gave it to me at Iowa State and sure enough life is repeating itself. I was drafted last, went to the Niners and got an opportunity.”

Before Purdy, dubbed Mr. Irrelevant as the 262nd selection of the 2022 NFL Draft, made the Niners roster out of 2022 training camp, his odds of even playing big-time college football seemed remote.

When Purdy graduated from Perry High School in Gilbert, Arizona, in 2018, he was ranked theNo. 39 pocket passer of that class by respected evaluators at ESPN. He was lightly recruited before landing at Iowa State, a middle-of-the-road program in the powerful Big 12 Conference.

And of those 38 QBs ranked ahead of Purdy, only three donned NFL uniforms in 2023: No. 1 Trevor Lawrence of the Jacksonville Jaguars, No. 5 Tanner McKee, a backup with the Philadelphia Eagles, and No. 35 Will Levis of the Tennessee Titans.

The rest of those Purdy-superior signal callers include 9-to-5 employees, sixth-year college students and a handful of athletes hanging by their