As former San Francisco 49ers great John Taylor joined the Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame on May 6, he shared his thoughts on Brock Purdy and Brandon Aiyuk.
Taylor played wide receiver for the 49ers from 1987 to 1995 and helped the team win three Super Bowls in that span. He talked about how he sees Purdy as the real deal and what he told Aiyuk during an interview with The Mercury News’ Cam Inman.
“A lot of people didn’t want to give Brock Purdy his just due. ‘Oh, he’s got this, he’s got that. If he didn’t have the group that he had, he wouldn’t be the quarterback that he is.’ OK, hold on,” Taylor told Inman.
“If Joe didn’t have the group that he had, Joe [Montana] wouldn’t have been Joe. If Steve [Young] didn’t have the group that he had, Steve wouldn’t have been Steve,” Taylor added. “I’ve never seen one of those two quarterbacks block for himself, hike the ball to himself, throw the ball to himself and go catch it.”
“But they always say, ‘Oh, if he didn’t have the surrounding party.’ Well, that’s how teams win. That’s how championships are made – of all different parts, not just one person,” Taylor concluded.
Purdy went to the 49ers with the final pick in the 2022 draft, but he burst on the scene that year after injuries to Trey Lance and Jimmy Garoppolo. After a run to the NFC Championship Game that season, Purdy became an MVP candidate and Super Bowl quarterback in the 2023 season.
John Taylor to Brandon Aiyuk: ‘Just Go Play’
Aiyuk has been one of Purdy’s biggest targets along the way. The fifth-year receiver has back-to-back 1,000 yard seasons the past two years and 15 touchdowns in that span.
“I remember being at training camp and [general manager] John Lynch asked me, what did I think of Brandon Aiyuk. I said, ‘You want my honest opinion?’ He said, ‘Yeah.’ I said, ‘He’s a [expletive] of a receiver. He’s just thinking too much. He just has to go play, let his ability take over.’ I said I know that feeling. In his mind, he’s wondering, and he has to stop wondering,” Taylor said.
“We were on the way to practice for the NFC Championship Game with the [Los Angeles] Rams down at SoFi [after the 2021 season], and I was on the bus with him. I introduced myself to him and told him, ‘Brandon, listen, I watched your whole career at ASU. You were a [expletive] of a receiver. This is just my advice to you, and you can take it or leave it: Stop overthinking. Just go play. Let your ability take over.’ ”
49ers Wanted a First-Round Pick for Brandon Aiyuk
Aiyuk’s abilities landed him a fifth-year extension with the 49ers, but he has been lobbying for a bigger contract all offseason. He has been linked to trade rumors, but the 49ers wanted a first-round draft pick for Aiyuk according to ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler.
Lynch previously stated the organization’s desire to keep Aiyuk and not trade. While a new deal hasn’t arrived for Aiyuk yet, the 49ers notably didn’t strike a new deal for fellow star receiver Deebo Samuel until the summer in 2022.
