Super Bowl quarterback Brock Purdy of the San Francisco 49ers had a surprising reaction to the numerous shots sent his way by Auburn football legend Cam Newton about being a "game manager" and not a "game-changer": taking them as complimentary.
"I feel like it can be a compliment at times where it's like alright, you've got a guy that can come in and run the system well," Purdy said on February 6 (h/t Bleacher Report). "I feel like that's a compliment. ... There's 32 teams in the NFL and there's not a lot of people that can come in and play the quarterback position well in the NFL. It's a hard job. So, if you're saying that I'm a game manager and I don't look flashy in how I do it, that's your opinion and that's OK and at the end of the day I want to do what it takes to help my team win. I think winning, at the end of the day, in the NFL is probably the biggest and most important thing."
Newton asserted that Purdy, Tua Tagovailoa, Dak Prescott, and Jared Goff were all game-managers, and later claimed that Purdy was the 10th best player on the 49ers following their NFC Championship victory over the Detroit Lions. That Purdy can take the comment in stride as he did shows a great deal of maturity and grace.
Christian McCaffrey compares Auburn football legend Cam Newton and Brock Purdy
Christian McCaffrey, aka Run-CMC, was a teammate of Newton with the Carolina Panthers and Purdy's primary backfield weapon in San Francisco's offense. He knows better than anyone the differences between the two, but when asked how the two are similar during a Super Bowl week media scrum, he took the diplomatic high road.
“Yeah, Brock and Cam—they look alike, they play alike and I think there’s a lot of different similarities,” he said jokingly (h/t Panthers Wire). “I think both of them have that underdog mentality at all times and both of them carry a big chip on their shoulder. Both great leaders . . . and winners.”
Perhaps Purdy can finally silence Newton once and for all during Super Bowl LVIII against the Kansas City Chiefs. Because if he doesn't have a prove-it game, you better believe the Auburn football Heisman winner will have something to say about it.