I’ve been thinking about this for a long time, and now that we’ve seen Purdy for 17 games, it’s time to project his skillset moving forward by utilizing player comp.

Drew Brees

  • Anticipation
  • Accuracy
  • Leadership

When you watch film on Purdy, the first thing that stands out are the throws he makes with capital A Anticipation (if you know, you know). I hear a lot of people comparing him to Kurt Warner. To me, I see Drew Brees.

Brees’ pocket mechanics were so dialed in. He’d drop back, use his eyes to manipulate the Safety and throw before his Receiver had gotten out of his break. He was highly efficient and extremely accurate, putting the ball on his playmakers so they could break tackles and get up field.

If Drew Brees was as refined as Purdy coming out of college, there’s no way he gets traded from the Chargers to the Saints. It’s possible that if he started out in Payton’s scheme from day 1 he would have achieved that potential right away, but the bottom line is Purdy is way ahead of Brees in terms of development.

Russell Wilson

  • Short Area Quickness
  • Escapability
  • improvisation (Eyes down field when scrambling)

I think Purdy is just as quick as Wilson in short areas. That’s one of the most impressive parts of his game. Russell gets the nod for long speed, but not by much.

Wilson’s ability to extend the play and throw his guys open with a moon ball is 1 of 1. But I also think Wilson’s inconsistency seeing over the middle and playing within the scheme of the offense forced him to rely on his improvisation too much.

Purdy does an excellent job progressing through his reads quickly and finding the right man. But when pressured, when the play breaks down, I see a lot of Russell Wilson in BCB. He burst away from the nearest defende and finds space. Most importantly, he keeps his eyes down field and looks for the chunk play. Against the Jaguars, he’s even started pointing to open space, helping receivers find the opening in the stressed defense.

Realistically, I think Purdy will end up being more like 90% for both of these comps. His best chance to catch and even surpass one of these comps would be Brees. But could you imagine if Drew Brees has Russell Wilson’s escapability and improvisation skills. Purdy’s going to be a nightmare for teams to game plan against for the next decade plus.