Cowherd oddly ranks 49ers QB Purdy behind Broncos rookie Nix

Cowherd oddly ranks 49ers QB Purdy behind Broncos rookie Nix originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

Colin Cowherd dropped his latest NFL quarterback ranking, and it’s a doozy. Particularly because of where he has 49ers signal-caller Brock Purdy ranked.

The FOX Sports analyst, on Friday’s episode of “The Herd with Colin Cowherd,” discussed Purdy’s place in the quarterback hierarchy in a segment called “Better Than Brock,” where he chose quarterbacks who he would prefer to have over Purdy.

While Cowherd did choose Purdy over other notable quarterbacks such as Minnesota’s Sam Darnold, Miami’s Tua Tagovailoa, Philadelphia’s Jalen Hurts and New York’s Aaron Rodgers, he did choose a handful of questionable quarterbacks over Purdy. These are the players Cowherd would take over Purdy: (h/t 49erswebzone)

Dak Prescott, Dallas Cowboys
Jared Goff, Detroit Lions
Jordan Love, Green Bay Packers
C.J. Stroud, Houston Texans
Jayden Daniels, Washington Commanders
Bo Nix, Denver Broncos
Trevor Lawrence, Jacksonville Jaguars
Caleb Williams, Chicago Bears
Kirk Cousins, Atlanta Falcons
Baker Mayfield, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Kyler Murray, Arizona Cardinals

Perhaps the most head-scratching pick was Nix, the Broncos’ rookie quarterback who struggled mightily to begin the 2024 NFL season before playing better in recent weeks.

“He’s a more accurate thrower, collegiately,” Cowherd said of Nix. “I think Bo Nix is [better]. By the way, he’s starting to settle in. He didn’t inherit all these [TE George] Kittle and [WR] Deebo [Samuel] and [WR Brandon] Aiyuk and all these wonderful toys to play with. He’s basically got [WR] Courtland Sutton and cross your fingers.

“Bo Nix is on a heater. And again, C.J. Stroud, Bo Nix, they have the responsibility to rebuild a team. They don’t get the luxury seating [from] day one.”

Cowherd made these comments on Friday, before Denver’s 23-16 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers on Sunday in which Nix completed 19 of 33 pass attempts for 216 passing yards, two touchdowns and one interception in addition to six rushing attempts for 61 yards on the ground.

In six games this season, Nix — the No. 12 pick in the 2024 draft — completed 121 of 198 pass attempts (61.1 percent) for 1,082 yards and five touchdowns with five interceptions to go along with 180 rushing yards and three scores on the ground.

In a slightly less controversial move, Cowherd also chose No. 1 overall pick Caleb Williams over Purdy, who he believes has more talent and weight on his shoulders than the 49ers’ third-year quarterback.

“One guy’s a significantly better athlete,” Cowherd said of Williams vs. Purdy. “What you don’t take into consideration, this is what people don’t — Brock Purdy’s a trust fund kid. Basically, he walked [in], like Magic Johnson, ‘Here’s Kareem [Abdul-Jabbar].’ I mean, when you get to come out of college to the pros, and you literally have the best scheme coach, [LT] Trent Williams, Deebo, [RB] Christian McCaffrey, the responsibility, the ask is totally [different].

“Caleb’s being asked, with a wobbly franchise, ‘Hey, kid, save us.’ Brock Purdy’s not a ‘save us’ guy at a franchise.”

Most NFL analysts, without hesitation, would rank Purdy higher than Nix, Williams and most other quarterbacks in the league.

And while there might be some room to argue Purdy vs. Williams, taking Nix over Purdy likely is a bridge too far for most NFL evaluators.

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