Report: Purdy had ‘elite' score in pre-draft cognitive test

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Brock Purdy surprised the NFL world when he exceeded expectations as the 49ers' starting quarterback, helping lead San Francisco to the NFC Championship Game. 

However, The Athletic's Matt Barrows recently spoke with Brandon Ally, the co-founder of the S2 Cognition test, a test given to draft prospects that measures how quickly players process information. In Barrows' article, it was revealed how elite Purdy's test score was leading up to the 2022 NFL Draft and which quarterbacks his information processing compared to. 

"Purdy landed in the mid-90s on something called the S2 Cognition test, a score you might consider Drew Brees-like," Barrows wrote. "Which is to say, it's elite."

"The game will never be too fast for Brock, I'll say that," Ally told Barrows. "I don't think he'll ever have trouble adjusting."

Ally added the results from the test are predictive and can forecast whether a quarterback will be successful in the NFL as well as predict what his passer rating might be.

While Ally could not share Purdy's exact score, his mid-90s estimation is similar to Brees, Kansas City Chiefs star Patrick Mahomes and Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen. The Cincinnati Bengals' Joe Burrow also took the test while he was in college and scored in the 97th percentile.

Ally added that anything above the 80th percentile was considered 'elite,' which could signal a good season ahead for Purdy if he were to return from elbow surgery and secure the 49ers' starting quarterback job.

Among the position groups, quarterbacks tend to have the highest average S2 test scores, with safeties coming close in second. Linebackers and cornerbacks tend to have the third-highest scores. 

Despite Purdy sliding to the final pick of the Draft, Ally noted that the young quarterback did well in three areas: Spatial awareness, distraction control and depth perception speed.

As the name implies, spatial awareness is -- among other aspects -- how well a quarterback can read the defense before a snap. Distraction control refers to a quarterback's ability to remain focused on the task at hand. 

Lastly, Ally notes to Barrows that Purdy's depth perception speed also was impressive.

"He was in some pretty elite company," he said. "I mean, he was in the high 90s on that."

Since taking over as San Francisco's signal-caller, Purdy was so impressive in his short time under center that veteran teammates George Kittle and Nick Bosa went on to proclaim that the starting QB job was Purdy's to lose

RELATED: Why 49ers' Purdy draws Hurts comparison from Peter King

Though some pundits might say Purdy's eight starts are not enough to determine how good he will be moving forward, there is no denying that what Purdy lacks in physical tools, he makes up for in football IQ. 

And while Purdy might not be the next Tom Brady, he still could be a solid quarterback in his own right, if S2's cognitive tests are anything to go off of.

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