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We can have all sorts of Brock Purdy arguments at any time. If there’s one thing we can all agree needs improvement, it’s his durability. We’re still trying to see him play his second full NFL season (he missed the last game of 2023 because the 49ers had the first seed in the playoffs locked up) Where would you rank the Kyle Shanahan/Brock Purdy duo in the NFL? In one writer’s list, the duo is ranked behind both Sean McVay/Matthew Stafford and Sam Darnold/Mike Macdonald Over at CBS Sports, Garrett Podell ranked the top head coach-quarterback duos heading into the 2026 season. He has Brock Purdy and Kyle Shanahan at sixth. As should surprise no one, the Los Angeles Rams’ Sean McVay and Matthew Stafford ranked ahead of them. As something that should surprise everyone, the McVay/Stafford duo ranked first, while the Patrick Mahomes/Andy Reid tandem from the Kansas City Chiefs ranked second. Purdy/Shanahan also fell behind their other NFC West rivals, the Seattle Seahawks, with Sam Darnold and Mike MacDonald (third). Here’s what Podell said about the Purdy/Shanahan connection: Despite the San Francisco 49ers’ top-six highest-paid players missing a league-leading 64 games (including the postseason), they made the playoffs and won a road playoff game at the Philadelphia Eagles. That’s an impressive feat for the 49ers’ duo of quarterback Brock Purdy and head coach Kyle Shanahan. Purdy’s situational efficiency in Shanahan’s scheme reached new heights in 2025 with him completing 58.3% of his third and fourth down pass attempts, the highest rate by any quarterback in the last 35 seasons, per CBS Sports Research. Like the rest of the San Francisco roster, Purdy needs to work on improving his durability. He missed a combined 11 games across the last three seasons, including eight in 2025 with a turf toe injury. Shanahan is a master at maximizing whoever is on the football field, but it would be nice to see him work with a full deck for once. That may be difficult with much of his core on the wrong side of 30. As we said to start this, it’s safe to say we can all agree Purdy needs to be more durable. In his rookie season, after tearing up his elbow, everyone said he wasn’t durable after one (1) injury. The very next season, with concussions, big hits, etc., he started every game (except the last one, since the 49ers were the first seed and didn’t need to play their starters). Even though he started every game, he got banged up a lot (so much that he had to be yanked for a play or two in some games to get checked by the training staff). 2024 had some moments without him, and the 2025 turf toe injury kept him deficient in some games at best and out of them completely at worst. A deficient Purdy isn’t the worst thing, but ask the Jacksonville Jaguars, and they will tell you it is far from ideal. Aside from his durability, Purdy has shown with Shanahan that he is a top-10 quarterback. We need to see him stay in games. Still, sixth in the coach/quarterback duo seems a bit high. I thought the whole reason Purdy was good was Shanahan. I thought Shanahan’s career was saved after drafting Brock Purdy when the Trey Lance failure became apparent. As Podell mentions, some may question MacDonald/Darnold at third—I’m one of them. It seemed like MacDonald was doing a majority of the heavy lifting last year with that defense and running game. That said, Sam Darnold has a Super Bowl ring, and Brock Purdy does not. Take from that what you will. Where would you put the Shanahan/Purdy duo in the NFL?