Brock Purdy could find some additional fantasy upside in 2024

Brock Purdy went from "Mister Irrelevant" in the 2022 draft to the San Francisco 49ers' starting quarterback late in his rookie season. An elbow injury that knocked him out of the 2022 NFC title game was not an issue going into last year, and he delivered (4,280 yards, 31 touchdowns, 11 interceptions).

Week 18 being irrelevant for the 49ers put the perfect end to Purdy's 2023 season from a fantasy football perspective. He finished as QB6 in fantasy (through Week 17).

Piloting a talent-laden offense with Kyle Shanahan as the play-caller makes it easy to dismiss Purdy's skills, and have doubts he can have a repeat this year. He is, in a certain vernacular, a point guard for the San Francisco offense, even as Pro Football Focus data shows he's not just a dink-and-dunk guy.

"A popular narrative among Brock Purdy's detractors is that he gets by on dink-and-dunk passes while letting his skilled teammates do all the work. However, Purdy ranked just 18th in short passing grade (73.0). His deep ball, on the other hand, was nearly perfect, resulting in a seemingly impossible 99.9 mark. On balls targeted 20 or more yards downfield, Purdy completed 30-of-53 passes for 956 yards, 11 touchdowns and only one interception while having a big-time throw to turnover-worthy play ratio of 17-to-2."

That said, Purdy is all but sure to have some drop in passing efficiency this year. His 9.6 yards per attempt last year was comfortably above second place (8.3; Tua Tagovailoa). The 49ers have also had one of the run-heaviest offenses in the league, further narrowing the margin Purdy operates in as a passer.

So where can Purdy make up for some that passing drop-off?

Brock Purdy could have a sneaky source of extra fantasy production

Purdy has three rushing touchdowns in his career. He had two scores and 144 yards on the ground last year. So Lamar Jackson he is not, and he will never be.

In last year's NFC Championship Game against the Detroit Lions, Purdy had 48 yards on six carries, good for the second-best rushing total of his career behind his 57 rushing yards against the Bengals during the 2023 regular season.

Earlier this offseason on The Pat McAfee Show, Purdy said he can contribute more on the ground if called upon.

"I mean, if it happens, it happens,” Purdy said. "Scrambling and all that, I'm all for it. But hopefully, Kyle’s watching this and we can put in some zone read and have [some more run plays].”

Purdy did show some running ability in college at Iowa State, topping 300 rushing yards twice in four seasons with at least five rushing scores in a season three times. So there's room for him to do a little more as a runner, even if it's unlikely there'll be any designed runs for him in the playbook.

It wouldn't take much for Purdy to set a new career mark for rushing yards this year, and doubling last year's rushing touchdown total wouldn't be a stretch. He won't be threatening the best fantasy quarterbacks as a runner, but there's a margin there that could make a difference for him in comparison to someone like Jared Goff.