A lot of this can be boiled down to discussing different categories of athletic development and performance.Valhalla wrote: ↑Tue Oct 10, 2023 8:07 amI still disagree here. I'm not just saying he's more athletic than your average athlete. I'm saying he's highly athletic FOR AN NFL QB. He's just not at the top in the ways you like to label athleticism, like top end speed and broad jump and whatever else. He IS HIGHLY ATHLETIC in his reaction speed, field processing speed, consistency, etc. You know...things that REALLY matter at QB. You could argue that Purdy is MORE athletic than Fields when it comes to playing QB. Maybe not more athletic across all sports and positions than Fields, but more athletic AT PLAYING QB.
I suppose I equate calling an elite QB that isn't fast or agile "unathletic" because he isn't fast or agile...to leaving out so many aspects of athleticism.
Which WR is more athletic? One with BLAZING speed, looks like a combine gem, but he has NO field awareness, horrible hands, just bad form in catching, poor body positioning? Or the WR who isn't nearly so fast, but just knows how to do his craft, precise routes, great hands, can pull in the poorly placed throws, etc? Who's more athletic? Troy Williamson or Cooper Kupp?
That's what it is to say that Purdy isn't athletic because he wasn't a combine gem. Can he do his ATHLETIC job of playing QB at an elite level, due to aspects of athleticism that aren't measured at the combine? Yep. Are other "athletic" QBs less adept to do the athletic job of playing QB because we call them athletic due to track and field and not due to their overall ability to fill this athletic demand of playing QB?
Purdy isn't just "more athletic than average athletes but less athletic than NFL QBs." He's athletic for an NFL QB. Just not in the way you can easily chart in excel.
In general, there are 4-5 pillars for athlete development and performance:
-Physical
-Technical
-Tactical
-Mental
*Lifestyle
There are dozens-hundreds of subcategories/key performance indicators (KPIs) within those pillars, the sum of which = athletic potential and performance (think of every single technical skill that is important for a WR. That’s just one pillar. There are just as many factors in each pillar).
Each sport has a different set of KPIs, and within football, each position requires a different set of physical demands, technical skills, tactical (“do your job” -Belichick). Sport specificity determines what is and isn’t important.
A player like Dez Bryant had great physical/technical/tactical abilities, hit and miss mental, and clearly needed help on the lifestyle and self care side. Antonio Brown’s mental/lifestyle derailed his career, but when on, his technical/tactical was elite and physical was good enough for his style of play.
Many would say John Ross was an elite level athlete, and while his speed was, many other areas even within the physical category were lacking. DK Metcalf clearly has rare physical abilities that are good enough to overcome some technical deficiencies.
Players like Cooper Kupp and Brock Purdy may not have elite physical abilities, but the sum of everything else allows them to perform at a very high level, which is all that matters.
All of the above is relevant for an athlete to be “athletic.” Sport and positional specificity just determines which areas are and aren’t as important. How quickly athletes can identify where they need to improve and implement plans to do so is vital. Having a good performance team around the athlete can make or break some careers.
Purdy isn’t an elite athlete in the physical category, which is what most people refer to when saying someone is athletic, but clearly possesses traits that allow him to play the QB position within this system at a near elite level. He’ll just never be one of those QBs converting to TE
Going nowhere before Purdy? San Fran went to (and lost) the conference championship game in 2021 with Jimmy G, and he also led them to (and lost) a Super Bowl in the 2019 season.
