It’s been only four weeks, but San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy has been playing the best football of his career so far here in 2026.
Through four games, Purdy has thrown for 1,007 yards, 11 touchdowns, and only one interception, while completing nearly 70 percent of his passes and averaging 8.9 yards per attempt.
While the 49ers receiving core has been hit with a flurry of injuries, Purdy hasn’t lost a step, leading this team to a 4-0 start as he’s done a good job of taking what the defense
has given him. His main issue coming into the year was turnovers and some poor decisions that could overshadow a quality game. Well, he’s got just one interception this year, coming back in Week 1, and has continued to find ways to extend plays behind a strong offensive line.
That’s why it’s not a surprise that Purdy sits atop the leaderboard of the MVP race through four weeks in NFL.com’s MVP tracker.
“Purdy is on fire to open the season, and the catalyst for the 49ers’ 4-0 start,” NFL.com’s Kevin Patra wrote. “Playing pristine in Kyle Shanahan’s system, Purdy’s performance is a culmination of time on task, innate deft touch, exemplary pocket manipulation and heady playmaking. Each week he seems to drop a dime that makes me yelp and wonder how in heaven the ball got through to its target.
“Through four games, Purdy is tied for the league lead with 11 touchdown passes and has allowed a banged-up 49ers offense to continue operating at a high level without a trove of assets. Sure, he still has Christian McCaffrey and George Kittle to lean on, but the receiver corps has been decimated, including Mike Evans clearly playing through a painful rib issue. Lesser QBs have crumbled. Carrying a club through injury is MVP pixie dust.”
While Purdy didn’t have the biggest stat line against the Broncos on Sunday, he didn’t hurt his MVP case, and remains sack-free through four weeks while avoiding negative plays.
“Sunday’s outing against Denver wasn’t his best of the year, but did little to take the shine off. Purdy still hasn’t been sacked this season,“ Patra continued. ”If we’re willing to say sacks are a QB stat when blaming players who take them in droves, we should credit Purdy’s uncanny ability to shake free and avoid negative plays. Avoiding disaster has been a Purdy specialty through four weeks. He’s thrown two touchdowns without an interception for the third straight week. He also became the first 49ers QB to start the season with multiple touchdowns in each of the first four games since Steve Young in 1998 (seven straight), per NFL Research.
“Purdy has used keen accuracy to blow away the rest of the QBs through the start of the season. He’s No. 1 in passer rating (126.2), QBR (89.6) and net yards per attempt (8.9). His EPA per dropback of 0.53 is by far the top (Lamar Jackson is No. 2 at 0.29), and his success rate of 60.7% is best among QBs with at least 100 dropbacks. There is nary an advanced stat Purdy isn’t dominating right now. Knock his opponents if you must, and yes, there could be a clunker coming, in which he splashes a couple of interceptions on high passes over the middle, but entering Week 5, no one is playing the position at Purdy’s level in 2026.”
That final sentence has been echoed by a few national reporters this season. Purdy has been playing on a different level than his peers, as he’s pushed the ball downfield, been accurate, carried his offense, and avoided negative plays.
Behind him on the MVP leaderboard are Josh Allen, Kenneth Walker III, Trevor Lawrence, and Jaxon Smith-Njigba to round out the top five. It’s only a quarter of the season in. But Brock Purdy has been playing at a very high level, and people are taking notice.
