Huard: What 49ers’ Brock Purdy has that Seahawks’ Sam Darnold still needs

May 20, 2025, 8:18 AM

Editor, Seattle Sports

On paper, there’s not a lot separating Seattle Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold and San Francisco 49ers QB Brock Purdy.

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The 25-year-old Purdy is a one-time Pro Bowler whose best season was 2023, when he passed for 4,280 yards, 31 touchdowns and 11 interceptions on 69.4% passing.

The 27-year-old Darnold is a one-time Pro Bowler whose best season was 2024, when he passed for 4,319 yards, 35 touchdowns and 12 touchdowns on 66.2% passing.

Yet Purdy just signed a five-year, $265 million contract extension that reportedly includes a no-trade clause per NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo, whereas Darnold’s deal with the Seahawks is for three years and $100.5 million, and Seattle has ways out of the deal after each year.

Yes, Purdy is a bit younger, and he has played in two NFC Championship games and a Super Bowl. But there’s one big factor in how the two QBs are perceived resulting in those differing contracts that Seattle Sports’ Brock Huard explained.

Huard, a longtime football analyst and former NFL QB, was asked Monday on Brock and Salk what one redeeming quality Purdy has that Darnold is still figuring out.

“Honestly, from a skill set, size, strength, arm, all that stuff, Sam Darnold (has the advantage),” Huard replied. “But I think what Brock Purdy has shown is just a tremendous amount of poise no matter the circumstance.”

Even though Purdy is a few inches shorter than Darnold and maybe not have as strong of an arm as a team would want in its QB, that poise means a lot.

“I think ultimately what (the 49ers) landed on was, you know what, there’s not a lot of guys that play with this kind of poise in these kinds of moments again and again and again,” Huard said. “And the guys believe in him. Yeah, he doesn’t (metaphorically) have a 95 mph fastball. He throws 88 to 91, if that, so his command’s gotta be spot-on, and he’s really accurate.”

Darnold doesn’t have nearly the same “big game” experience that Purdy does. In fact, he has played just one playoff game, which came at the end of last season and did not go well. That’s going to be a storyline that follows him now as he moves to Seattle after breaking out in 2024 with the Minnesota Vikings.

“Just that poise in the biggest moments, that for Sam Darnold I think will be the story here in 2025,” Huard said. “That is what Vegas is betting against. That is what national pundits are betting against. They’re thinking that he’s going to be Sam, the guy who was in New York and at times in Carolina, and even at the end in Minnesota. That when the game was on the line, you gotta play that hand that just was off the rails.

“For Brock Purdy over the course of his young career, when the moments have gotten big and the adversity has gotten high, that dude has responded with the tremendous amount of poise that will be the narrative in the story I think honestly for Sam Darnold here in 2025.”