NFL fans call out Matt Rhule for claiming to bring Brock Purdy on draft board with Panthers: "Shut the f**k up"

Everyone is aboard the Brock Purdy train with the quarterback scheduled to lead the 49ers in the Super Bowl, but Matt Rhule claims he was on it with the Panthers before anyone else. We have all heard of stories of those who knew the likes of Tom Brady and Kurt Warner were going to be superstars before they eventually became the legends that they are. And a similar industry seems to be rising around Brock Purdy.

Matt Rhule is now the head coach of Nebraska. But from 2020 to 2022, he was the head coach of the Carolina Panthers. During that period, the franchise struggled to settle on a franchise quarterback. They tried rolling with Sam Darnold and Baker Mayfield and also brought back Cam Newton after his brief stint with the New England Patriots. But their former head coach says it could have been very different.

Matt Rhule has claimed that he wanted to draft Brock Purdy and brought it up to others in the draft room. However, he says he was vetoed, commenting,

"When I was in the draft room at Carolina, I brought his name up. I said, 'Hey guys, he should be on the draft board.' I got vetoed on that one."

His recollection of events did not sit well with many NFL fans, who hold him partly responsible for the issues they are facing today. They finished this season with the worst record in the league and their former coach certainly did not leave them in a position of strength.

Football watchers took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to castigate him. Most were disbelieving of him, while others figured that the current 49ers quarterback had dodged a bullet if this was true. Here is a sampling of some of the responses on the platform.

No reason to suggest Brock Purdy would have succeeded with Matt Rhule

Brock Purdy has thrived under Kyle Shanahan but there is no guarantee that he would have done so under Matt Rhule. A case in point is Baker Mayfield's failure to shine there before going on to play under Sean McVay in 2022 and resurrecting his career with the Los Angeles Rams.

That gave him a chance to sign with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers this year. While the Carolina Panthers finished bottom of the NFC South, Mayfield's new team won the division and made it all the way to the Divisional Round of the playoffs. The 49ers quarterback's story could have turned out a lot differently if he had been drafted by Carolina.