A recent set of highlights asking who the quarterback was, while blurring any details out had NFL fans thinking it was Patrick Mahomes, Brett Favre, and more. 

If you stripped away the jersey number and team, would anyone recognize San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy as a good quarterback?

Apparently, the answer is yes—at least according to X, where someone posted a black-and-white, blurry highlight reel of an unnamed quarterback. Spoiler: it was Purdy.

The real magic? The comments. Sure, some might be sarcastic, but let’s give the benefit of the doubt and pretend they weren’t all trolling:

Nope, that is one Brock Purdy.

So why bring this up? Because uttering “Brock” and “Purdy” in the same breath as “top 10 quarterback” still breaks brains in certain NFL circles. He was left off of ESPN’s ranking of top-10 quarterbacks, for…reasons.He didn’t even make ESPN’s top-10 quarterback list. Not even the top 10 with an asterisk. He landed in the “receiving votes” tier, somehow below Kyler Murray. Someone run Murray’s tape through that X filter and see if people still think it’s Mahomes or Favre. I’ll wait.

Purdy isn’t too concerned. On his recent appearance with KNBR’s Murph and Markus, he was asked about the ESPN list and had this answer to it:

“Everybody can have their opinion and stuff. For me, it’s always been “how can I be the best version of myself, right now, today, for the 49ers?” And all that matters is, every Sunday, we go out there, and you try to win. And how can I be a quarterback that elevates the guys around me, go out, and find a way to win? And I feel like I’ve done that the last couple of years. There’s always going to be people saying things. Obviously, lists come out and rankings come out, and all the things, but for me, I don’t buy into it. My whole life, it’s been like that: I’ve always been the overlooked guy. For me, I just always got to have a chip on my shoulder and go out and compete every single day and not care about the highs or the lows, but just being consistent. That’s all I care about.”

Purdy knows the narrative. Even if he wins a Super Bowl, the storyline might still be “Is he actually good?”

(I hope I get to see what the storylines will be after that).