Kyle Shanahan, 49ers pursued Tom Brady with Brock Purdy as backup QB in 2023: 'He's the GOAT, I get it' 

Brock Purdy is a superstar quarterback at San Francisco 49ers. The ‘Mr. Irrelevant’ defied the odds and other narratives to guide the Niners to a second consecutive NFC Championship Game.

Interestingly, Purdy was not the No. 1 choice for 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan going into the 2023 NFL season. According to ESPN’s Nick Wagner, retired quarterback Tom Brady was heavily pursued by the 49ers in the offseason. This was the team Brady grew up rooting for, the same franchise he wanted to play for in 2020 but the 49ers had other plans.

With a potential move in the mix, Purdy would have been a backup to none other than seven-time Super Bowl champion Brady. So when Shanahan conveyed the news, Purdy understood but also questioned the move given how prolific he was before the injury.

"That meant so much to me. I remember (Shanahan) saying if we can get Tom Brady, we're going to try to get him. And I was like, 'Yeah, he's the GOAT. I get it.' But something deep down inside me was sort of like, 'Dude, I just showed you that I can play well in this system. And we were one game away from the Super Bowl. More than anything, I was like, 'OK, now let's go.' "

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Tom Brady’s love-hate relationship with the 49ers: How close was the move(s)?

The 49ers strongly considered pursuing Brady as an unrestricted free agent before moving away during the free-agent signing period of 2020. Shanahan seemingly had more faith in 29-year-old quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo than Brady, who had a sub-par couple of seasons with the New England Patriots.

Meanwhile, Brady signed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and led them to Super Bowl glory in his first season. In his two-and-a-half years in Tampa, he played like a quarterback in his prime.

Within 12 months, the 49ers traded up to No. 3 overall to select Trey Lance to replace Garoppolo in the future. That ended badly.

Nearly three years later, 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan conceded making a mistake by not betting on Brady in 2020.

“I’d like to say, ‘Of course not,’ but I think everyone’s since then you’re wondering when is the number too high,” Shanahan said. “But when you watch him that first week in Tampa, you’re like, ‘What the hell was anyone ever thinking?’”

The 49ers could have signed Brady at the 2000 NFL Draft as they were in the hunt for a young and versatile quarterback. Instead, the Niners selected Giovanni Carmazzi of Hofstra in the third round and Tim Rattay of Louisiana Tech in the seventh round.

Brady's rumored fairytale return to San Francisco would have been poetic. We wouldn't witness Purdy's upward trajectory though. He punched above weight in the 2023 NFL campaign by leading the league in yards per attempt (9.6), yards per dropback (8.8), yards per completion (13.9), and expected points added per dropback (0.26). That's in his 16 regular season games.

Purdy was top-notch in last season's playoff as well before injury ruined his dream run against the Dallas Cowboys. He has yet another chance to prove his mettle as the 49ers take on the Detroit Lions in the NFC Championship game on Sunday. Is he the next Tom Brady? Only time will tell.