The Analytics of Separation: Why the 49ers Let Jauan Jennings Walk to Minnesota
San Francisco prioritized data over sentiment, letting a fan favorite depart after cratering efficiency metrics suggested his peak performance was a relic of the past.
Video Transcript
Yeah, I li- I like, I like all that.
I'm, I'm excited for Brock Purdy.
Here, here's another random one that, that I don't know what to do with this necessarily.
Career EPA per dropback.
Uh- Huh and, and I know EPA's, hotly discussed.
It's more of a team stat than a quarterback stat.
All that fun stuff.
But just, hey, PFF put the information in front of me, I gotta eat it, right?
Like, they, you put the- Right you put the plate in front of me, I gotta eat it.
Let's be honest.
Brock Purdy has averaged a plus twe- .20 EPA per dropback in his career.
That is fifth among the 102 quarterbacks who've dropped back at least 1,000 times in the PFF era, which is since 2006.
The four quarterbacks ahead of him, don't know if you've heard of any of them, Jason.
Let's, let's see, let's see if, this is a real ball k- knowing ball knowledge guy.
Number one- Okay Peyton Manning.
Don't know if you've heard of him.
Number two- He's all right Drew Brees.
Don't know if you've heard of him.
He's all right.
Number three, Patrick Mahomes.
I think we know of him.
Niner fans probably know a little too much of him.
He's all right.
Number, number four, Tom Brady.
Number six, Aaron Rodgers.
Number seven, Philip Rivers.
Almost 49er legend, Philip Rivers.
And then number eight, Tony Romo.
Number nine, Jordan Love.
Brock Purdy is number five all-time EPA career per dropback.
Again, take what you want with EPA.
Take what w- Yeah take as you may.
This is what PFF is telling me, man, and I think that's very, very impressive.
Honestly, when you, when you think about it, it really does make sense though.
I, I mean, since Brock's been here, the only time the offense kind of scuffled was in 2024, but everybody was completely injured.
But for the most part, when Brock's upright, and he's got weapons and everything, and he's got Kyle Shanahan, that offense goes, man, and it has.
It's, e- ever since he stepped in in the Miami game, it, it kind of just, it, it, that's how it is.
Sure, you run into a Baltimore Ravens defense, a Seattle Seahawks defense, both of them commanded by the same guy.
But you know, at the same time, for the most part, this offense goes.
And there's, there's things that he does to lift, and we talk about it with the legs and everything.
But Andrew, I want to point something else out to you, because, you know, these passing metrics that we have, and, and where everybody thinks that K- that Brock likes to go with the football, there's some numbers here that are kind of pushing back on the whole, like, s- short intermediate range.
