Brock Purdy chasing first octuple crown in NFL history: Breaking down each category and where 49ers QB ranks
Brock Purdy chasing first octuple crown in NFL history: Breaking down each category and where 49ers QB ranks
Brock Purdy is a heavy NFL MVP favorite entering a showdown on Christmas night on “Monday Night Football” against the Ravens.
He is on track to set an NFL-record for yards per attempt in a season (9.9), a feat that faces a significant challenge vs. the Ravens No. 1 defense.
His MVP credentials go beyond one statistic, though. He littered the NFL passing leaderboard entering Week 16, ranking top two in completion rate, pass yards, touchdown passes, yards per attempt, TD-INT ratio, passer rating, pass touchdown percentage and yards per completion.
| Brock Purdy This Season With NFL Ranks Entering Week 16 |
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With a strong performance against the Ravens, it’s possible he could be in position to lead the league in most of these categories, if not all.
He’s on the doorstep of several rare clubs, including one where he would be the inaugural member. One of one.
Brock Purdy SF • QB • #13 CMP%69.8YDs3795TD29INT7YD/Att9.88 View Profile
Triple Crown
Lead NFL in pass yards, pass TD and completion percent
Members: 1934 Arnie Herber, 1940 Sammy Baugh, 1947 Sammy Baugh, 1965 John Brodie, 2001 Kurt Warner, 2007 Tom Brady, 2011 Drew Brees
The triple crown is hardly in the NFL lexicon like it is with baseball. It hit mainstream in 2021 when Cooper Kupp accomplished the receiving triple crown, but it’s rarely talked about with QBs.
Only six different QBs have earned the passing triple crown, leading the NFL in pass yards, touchdown passes and completion rate in a season. This feat alone would be incredible for Purdy, a blend of dominance in both volume and efficiency.
Quadruple Crown
Lead NFL in pass yards, pass TD, completion percentage and yards per attempt
Members: 1940 Sammy Baugh, 2001 Kurt Warner, 2007 Tom Brady
Let me introduce you to the quadruple crown. A feat only accomplished by Sammy Baugh, Kurt Warner and Tom Brady deserves a name. These are the only QBs in NFL history to lead the league in these four categories in the same season: pass yards, pass TD, completion rate and yards per attempt.
Quintuple Crown
Lead NFL in pass yards, pass TD, completion percentage, yards per attempt, TD-INT ratio
Members: 2007 Tom Brady
Let’s make the jump from quadruple crown to quintuple crown because Purdy also leads the NFL in TD-INT ratio. Only one QB has ever led the NFL in the five categories above, and it was Tom Brady in 2007, one of the greatest QB seasons of all-time.
Sextuple Crown
Lead NFL in pass yards, pass TD, completion percentage, yards per attempt, TD-INT ratio, passer rating
Members: 2007 Tom Brady
Purdy is on pace for one of the highest passer rating (119.0) marks in NFL history, so let’s move on to the sextuple crown. We still can’t get rid of this Tom Brady guy, as he also led the NFL in that in 2007.
Septuple Crown
Lead NFL in Pass yards, Pass TD, completion percentage, yards per attempt, TD-INT ratio, passer rating, pass TD percentage
Members: 2007 Tom Brady
One incredible part of Purdy’s season is he ranks second in the league in touchdown passes despite ranking 21st in pass attempts entering Week 16. He leads the NFL in pass TD percentage by a mile, which is the seventh category for the septuple crown. Tom Brady is still the only QB on this list. Fifty touchdown passes in a season will do that.
Octuple Crown
Lead NFL in pass yards, pass TD, completion percentage, yards per attempt, TD-INT ratio, passer rating, pass TD percentage, yards per completion
Members: Nobody
Finally we arrive at the octuple crown. Purdy can be the first player in NFL history to lead the NFL in each of the above eight categories, which includes yards per completion. Derek Anderson led the NFL in this category in 2007. Goodbye Tom Brady. Purdy could be in a league of his own because he’s hit on equal amounts of deep balls and YAC to outpace the rest of the league.
The reason he will be the first octuple crown winner ever? If he has a strong performance against the Ravens, he has the Commanders on deck and they have the worst pass defense in the NFL. In Week 18 he gets the Rams, who have given up a bunch of long touchdown passes to the Ravens and Saints in recent weeks.
The reason he won’t do it? It’s an uphill climb in a tight race for completion rate, passing yards and touchdown passes with Dak Prescott, Tua Tagovailoa, Patrick Mahomes and others. San Francisco may be resting starters in the final week if it locks up the bye. Purdy’s numbers could also take a hit if Christian McCaffrey poaches a bunch of touchdowns, as he has all year.
It’s hard to believe I am writing about Purdy leading the NFL in eight categories, let alone one, after he was the last pick in the 2022 NFL Draft.
If he ends up doing it, you’ll have to add octuple crown to your NFL vocabulary.