Cam Newton is latest proof Brock Purdy takes are getting out of hand

The San Francisco 49ers are headed to another Super Bowl, and after leading the team to comeback victories over the Green Bay Packers and Detroit Lions, you'd think Brock Purdy would have earned the right to shut down the critics once and for all. If anything, though, the critics have become a little more desperate to tear the young Niners signal-caller down.

Cam Newton knows a thing or two about being a game-changer at the quarterback position who leads a team to the Super Bowl. Although he ultimately came up short against the Denver Broncos vaunted defense, Newton's carry-job of the 2015 Carolina Panthers is one of the most remarkable Superhero-esque feats we have seen in the modern NFL.

You could forgive Newton, then, for being a little too harsh when it comes to judging another quarterback, but what he said about Purdy is straight-up unfair. According to Newton, Purdy isn't a "game-changer" because he's not one of the three best players on the Niners. Bizarrely enough, Newton is convinced Purdy is the tenth-best player on his own team.

Brock Purdy has directly changed important games for the 49ers

By that logic of Purdy being tenth on the 49ers, yes, he wouldn't be all that special nor a game-changer. The problem is that Newton ranking Purdy so low among his own teammates is an exaggeration that shows just how depraved the criticisms of the star quarterback have become. Dissing Purdy is no longer a contrarian take; it has become so in vogue that doing so is a form of a take artist trying too hard to be different. It's a step below Skip Bayless trolling.

Looking at the numbers, Purdy finished fourth in the NFL regular season with 267.5 passing yards per game and first with a 113.0 QB Rating. No quarterback was within even seven points of Purdy, who averaged nearly 10 yards per attempt. Yes, Christian McCaffrey was arguably just as strong of an MVP candidate and far from the only great player for Purdy to work with on the 49ers offense. And yes, the 49ers have excellent defensive players on a unit that was third in the league in points allowed.

Yet how can the quarterback with the highest QB Rating in the NFL and one of the heftiest yardage totals be anything but a game-changer? How can a quarterback headed to the Super Bowl and responsible for two playoff comebacks not be a game-changer in the modern NFL?

Purdy has a lot of help, but his own ability is part of what helps his teammates shine, too. It goes both ways. Out of all players, Cam should know that, because when his own team faced the ultimate test against Denver in the Super Bowl, his own lack of surrounding help doomed his individual brilliance to falter.