The NFL quarterback who could become the first rookie to take his team to the Super Bowl is a devout Christian.
San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy started seven games in the 2022 season and won them all. Astonishingly, he was the last player selected in the 2022 NFL draft. The 49ers started the 2022 season with Trey Lance as their quarterback, but he was injured and out for the year in their second game of the season. Jimmy Garoppolo, who led San Francisco to the Super Bowl in 2020, succeeded him, but he was injured against the Miami Dolphins on December 4.
“They’re now just one game away from the Super Bowl! In addition to being a super talented football player, I love the fact that Brock Purdy is so open about his faith in Jesus Christ,” Rev. Franklin Graham wrote on Facebook after the 49ers defeated the Dallas Cowboys last Sunday.
“It’s been football, man,” Purdy said before the 49ers-Cowboys game. “I don’t try to make it more than it is. I’m a faith-based guy, so that’s how I stay grounded. I don’t look at football like it’s literally everything. It’s [not] do or die or anything like that.”
“It’s a game and it’s my job, for sure, and I take it very seriously, but at the end of the day, I know that I’m not defined by the wins or losses as a person, like, that’s not who I am,” he continued. “I’m not just a quarterback. I wasn’t born to just to be a quarterback and play football, and that’s it. Like, I have a life and everything like that. And I remember that, but at the same time, man, I’m a competitor. I love to compete. I want to win at all costs and so, I’ve been enjoying that as well, so that’s where I’m at. That’s how I stay grounded with it all, but I’m definitely thankful and blessed to be here.”
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In 2019, when he was the quarterback for Iowa State as a sophomore, Purdy told Sports Spectrum he wanted “others to see God through my actions.”
“Every time I step on the field I want to bring Him glory. Even when we lose, I point to God and thank him for the opportunity. Everything happens for a reason; it’s all a lesson from the Lord. It’s a game, it’s not my life. It took me a long time to realize this; I used to put football in front of the Lord. I would pray for him to keep me safe and give me a good game, but it isn’t about that. Now I pray that I would make the most of the opportunity he’s given me and, win or lose, that I would put him first,” Purdy said.
Interviewed again in 2021 on the Sports Spectrum Podcast podcast, Purdy recalled when he first played football at Iowa State and his metamorphosis after a hard first week of fall camp, prompting him to get on his knees and ask God to forgive him for making his relationship with Jesus Christ secondary to football.
“It was just a great reminder of where my identity is, where it lies. And it’s in Jesus. And I continue to lean on Him. Again, the next day I didn’t go out and throw for 500 yards and was this awesome quarterback, but it was just this peace that I had with Him knowing that, ‘Hey, no matter what I’m going to face moving forward during college football, God and Jesus are going to be my identity. And whatever I face, I won’t be shaken from it. I’ve got a great foundation in Him,’” he said.