Shannon Sharpe on Brock Purdy as an Elite QB: “No he’s not an elite quarterback”

Everybody has a take for Brock Purdy. After he lit up the Dallas Cowboys for four touchdowns, the question now is just how good is he? And you’re getting about what you expect. Various takes, some with logic, some without, arguing this very notion.

Well, add Shannon Sharpe to the mix now who had some thoughts on if Brock Purdy was any good when he made an appearance on First Take:

No he’s not an elite quarterback, he’s a product of the system. It’s more credit to Kyle Shanahan and what he’s done. In the biblical terms, the Devil told God that Job the reason why he serves you is because you give everything to him. He said that if you remove that hedge from around him, he will curse his very maker. Can take everything but his life. Took his kids, took his sheep, took all that. Job was still faithful.

...I’m not so sure that if we remove Deebo, we remove Kyle Shanahan, we remove [Brandon] Aiyuk we would still see this Brock Purdy. He is a product of the system. Now, that’s not to take away from what he’s doing. It’s ok for him to be in the MVP discussion and not be Patrick Mahomes, or not be Tua [Tagovailoa], or not be an elite quarterback. He still has to go out there and operate. He just doesn’t have to do as much as those other guys. If I were to put him with Patrick Mahomes, if I were to switch places and say, “OK you got to go do what Patrick Mahomes does, or you have to go do what these other quarterbacks...” I’m not so sure Brock Purdy can do that. But in this system, the ability to run the football with Christian McCaffrey and all the weapons—because all he has to do is jsut not turn it over; get it in Aiyuk’s hands, get it in Deebo’s hands, get it in Kittle’s hands and let them do the work—but no, he’s not elite. No stretch of the imagination is he elite.

Oh man, The Book of Job? You mean Exodus didn’t want any of that? Or maybe how he’s a great flood that takes over the NFL.

Ok, jokes aside, Shannon Sharpe wants to bring up a couple of common takes on Purdy. You might call them part of my lazy takes on the subject, but there is one difference: the question was if Brock Purdy was elite, not excuses to downplay his success.

He’s good, he’s getting better, but an elite quarterback? Sorry, he’s not. At least not yet. But not for the reasons Sharpe is identifying, he’s not elite because there’s just not enough of a body of work to crown him that yet, a point Ryan Clark (who was on the same segment) echoes.

Now, applying these to eliteness is much, much different than using those criticisms to downplay Purdy and say he’s not all that special—because he is. We just don’t know if he’s at that tier yet. And that’s fair.

Now, back to Sharpe’s argument. He’s right that Purdy isn’t elite, but I wouldn’t necessarily agree with his logic behind it. If we go off what he’s using as criteria, why weren’t we mentioning that when Patrick Mahomes started for the Kansas City Chiefs and had Travis Kelce, Tyreek Hill, etc. to make him look good? Didn’t Aaron Rodgers have a loaded roster when he was annoited?

There’s no questioning where Mahomes is on the quarterback tier now. The big detracting question (and mine also) was what happens when Tyreek Hill leaves the Chiefs? What will happen when Travis Kelce leaves the Chiefs (answer: he was/will be fine). My point is he had weapons, Rodgers had weapons, quarterbacks have weapons. And there didn’t seem to be any issue saying “yes” after 15 games.

And then a product of the system? Don’t the systems make quarterbacks? Wasn’t Donovan McNabb a product of the Andy Reid system (argue eliteness in the comments)? Look, there’s nothing wrong with saying it, yet. But should Brock Purdy consistently do this, the system QB argument is going to make fans pull their hair out.

But right now, would you even put the elite tag on Purdy? No one is arguing on this website if he’s good, but would you consider him there yet, or do you agree we need more a body of work?