Deebo Samuel, Brandon Aiyuk call out Ryan Clark for berating Brock Purdy
49ers receivers Deebo Samuel and Brandon Aiyuk called out Ryan Clark for his comments on Brock Purdy as they took offense at the former NFL player's characterization of the San Francisco quarterback. The ESPN commentator sat down with Stephen A. Smith and Shannon Sharpe and delivered a scathing monologue about the 49ers starter.
He said that Brock Purdy is not at the level of Lamar Jackson, Patrick Mahomes or Josh Allen, who elevate the players around them, and it was a travesty that he was part of the MVP conversation earlier in the season. In fact, he contended that Jared Goff is a better quarterback right now than the San Francisco player. He said that people like Deebo Samuel and Brandon Aiyuk are the reason Purdy looks so good and laid the key to his success at the feet of head coach Kyle Shanahan.
Ryan Clark even went on to say that the San Francisco 49ers are looking like when Jimmy Garoppolo was their starter and feared that they will lose to the Detroit Lions again in the NFC Championship game if they depended too much on their quarterback. It did not take long for two of the players whom he mentioned to fire back at him.
Deebo Samuel said that he could not believe the hate that was coming the way of his quarterback, given Brock Purdy was at the top of or near there in every category in the regular season. He pushed back against Ryan Clark, writing,
"Never seen so much hate for a qb that lead the league in almost every category y'all folks be bugging frfr. That tap(e) don't tell no lies."
Brandon Aiyuk was no less forgiving and was also there to defend his quarterback, writing in a similar vein,
"Y'all need to stop the DS'n and turn on the tape! That's for everybody. EVERYBODY"
Former 49ers CB Richard Sherman joins Deebo Samuel and Brandon Aiyuk in criticizing Ryan Clark's Brock Purdy comments
Former San Francisco 49ers cornerback and Super Bowl champion with the Seattle Seahawks, Richard Sherman, also blasted Ryan Clark for his comments about Brock Purdy. He stated,
"I don’t get how we hold a 2nd year QB who has gone to NFC championship game in both of his first two years gets held to the Standard of all the elite QBs but none of the credit when he plays elite. 3-1 record in the playoffs and hasn’t lost a playoff game in which he has started and finished."
While Brock Purdy, Brandon Aiyuk and Deebo Samuel may yet fall to an excellent Detroit Lions team in the NFC Championship, it does not make Ryan Clark's assertions statistically valid. Aiyuk has had a career year with 1,342 yards and George Kittle had his first 1,000 yard season since 2019. Clearly, they are being elevated by their quarterback.
It looks like the broadcast media is indeed finding it difficult to give credit to a player selected with the last pick of the NFL Draft, when he is going up in the conference championship against three other quarterbacks selected in the first round. It is tough for the experts to admit that they got it wrong initially and never saw him reach the level he has.