As Brock Purdy jogs onto another NFL field, for another NFL start, in a professional football career that’s not as unlikely as it seems but has always been remarkable nonetheless, his private quarterbacks coach logs onto a Zoom call. Will Hewlett knew Purdy before he became a phenomenon, Mr. Irrelevant to Mr. Quite Relevant, the best NFL story that never ceases to get better.
This week provides more proof. San Francisco is on the road, in Arizona Cardinals, where the stadium in Glendale is only about a 45-minute drive from Queen Creek, where Purdy grew up. Before he became Brocktober at Iowa State and made an NFL roster. Before he became a starter, then an injured starter. Each step has been more improbable and more meaningful than the last.
Dozens of friends and relatives have decided to trek to the nearby stadium Sunday. Only now, everything is different for the state’s 2017 player of the year. The Cardinals are honoring an opposing signal-caller a home game. The majority of their fan base would gladly trade their solid quarterback, Kyler Murray, for , which would have to set some sort of NFL history—a No. 1 pick swapped for the last selection in an NFL draft. There’s a photo on the big screens of Purdy shaking hands with Michael Bidwill, the Cardinals’ owner. And “The Faithful,” as the 49ers diehards like to call themselves, seem to outnumber the home fans, owing to Arizona’s 3–10 record before kickoff.
The homecoming marks Purdy’s second appearance in what’s now called State Farm Stadium—after the Fiesta Bowl in 2021, when he won offensive MVP amid the pandemic, in front of a mostly empty stadium. He put on a show that afternoon, and all anyone wants on a Sunday two weeks from Christmas is an encore, the best kind of gift, a chance to celebrate their native son.
