Brock Purdy Says 49ers Were 'Tired,' Contributed to Struggles During 2024 NFL Season

Brock Purdy believes fatigue from three straight years of deep playoff runs contributed to the San Francisco 49ers' struggles in 2024.

Appearing on the Built 4 More podcast (h/t David Bonilla of 49ers Web Zone), Purdy said the 49ers were "tired" last season because of their compressed offseason schedule after a run to the Super Bowl in 2023.

"That season is no joke, and when you go from July of training and everything, all the way to the end of February, and then you really get five weeks off or so [until] you've got to report back, and then you're going again, guys are tired. They're still beat up, their bodies."

Purdy went on to say "it's not easy" to play as much football as the 49ers did, particularly for older veterans who rely on recovery time to be in peak condition.

There's certainly a lot to be said for how many games the Niners played over the previous three years resulting in the bottom dropping out in 2024.

Per Aaron Schatz of FTNFantasy.com, the 49ers were the most injured team in the NFL last season by adjusted games lost. The stat accounts for injury-related absences to expected starters and key situation players, rather than a catch-all for all players that would include sparingly-used backups.

By comparison, the 2023 49ers team that made the Super Bowl had the fourth-fewest adjusted games lost in the NFL.

Brandon Aiyuk, Christian McCaffrey, Javon Hargrave, Talanoa Hufanga and Trent Williams played a combined 31 games. Purdy, George Kittle, Jauan Jennings, Ricky Pearsall, Deebo Samuel, Deommodore Lenoir and Nick Bosa all missed at least two games.

That list doesn't even include Dre Greenlaw, who appeared in just two games after rupturing his Achilles in the second quarter of Super Bowl 58 against the Kansas City Chiefs.

No team other than the Chiefs played more games between the regular season and playoffs than the 49ers from 2021 to '23. They were in the NFC Championship Game all three years, advancing to the Super Bowl in the 2023 season.

Purdy wasn't even part of the 2021 team that lost to the Los Angeles Rams in the NFC Championship Game. He was selected in 2022 as the final pick of the draft.

When you combine the amount of games the 49ers had played over that stretch with the roster attrition that is natural for every team to go through, it's not hard to figure out why they had their worst record (6-11) since Kyle Shanahan's second season as head coach in 2018.