49ers' Brock Purdy proves it's time to rethink the term game manager for quarterbacks

The term game manager is not exactly a flattering thing for a quarterback to be called. If you don't believe me, check out Matt Ryan's reaction during Super Bowl LVIII coverage below.

It's a term the media has generally weaponized in the last few decades to criticize quarterbacks who are conservative, have weak arms and protect the ball, but are elevated by a strong supporting cast. 

The term became a lightning rod for debate last season more than ever before. Cam Newton lit the match when he called Brock Purdy, Tua Tagovailoa, Jared Goff and Dak Prescott game managers.

Of course, pretty much every sports media outlet took that headline and had a field day with it. Days later Newton provided more context to his comments which illustrated that game manager is not supposed to be a derogatory term and this is a layered conversation.

He said a game manager is "a player who has the ability to make the right play at the right time, protecting the football at all times," and he wasn't saying they are "not physically capable of making great plays." He described Peyton Manning, Drew Brees and Tom Brady as elite game managers. 

My head was admittedly spinning following all of the game manager debates across networks especially as Brock Purdy was at the center of them during his run to the Super Bowl. With all of the different opinions I found myself wondering, what exactly is a game manager?

After chatting with a few NFL analysts at CBS Sports, on top of last year's commentary mentioned above, I'm convinced a game manager is a positive trait all quarterbacks must have. But, when that's all you can do, game manager is a negative identity. Context matters. So, calling a quarterback a game manager can be a compliment or a criticism, depending on the situation. Sort of like the term space cadet can have two different meanings. Yes, I just watched that movie on Prime Video. A space cadet could literally be an astronaut in training or someone who is a bit ... out of it.

What is a game manager?

"Game manager can be used a lot of ways. I don't think it has to be viewed in the negative way that it's been used by a lot of people," explained former NFL quarterback and CBS Sports analyst Danny Kanell. "It can definitely be used as a knock, but the way I've always approached it, I think Peyton Manning is the best game manager that's ever played. I think a quarterback has to wear a lot of different hats and a game manager is just one of them. Peyton Manning was an offensive coordinator at the line of scrimmage. Directing traffic. Getting out of bad plays into good ones. So I think game manager is a positive term, it should be part of the job description."

Former NFL quarterback Brady Quinn described it like this. "Every quarterback is equipped with a toolbox. Within that toolbox they have some extraordinary talents, some various tools they utilize to help them win games, win a Super Bowl. Managing the game, how to play the game, is one of those tools."

To Quinn's point, even the best quarterback on planet earth has to be a game manager sometimes. "To me, the highest compliment we should be giving is game manager", added Charles Davis, an analyst for the NFL on CBS. "Because the best game managers are the guys that are in the Hall of Fame. The best game managers are the guys that win Super Bowls. The term game manager, we've taken it and made it into something it's not. The guy who went on to win the last two Super Bowls (Patrick Mahomes) did it as a game manager, where to me he ascended to the apex level of quarterbacking. He understood situations, he understood where his team was, understood where his defense was and how to take care of the football. He's won back-to-back Super Bowls with a receiver core that was, ehhhhhh."

Mahomes has certainly managed the game to perfection for much of the last two seasons after the Tyreek Hill trade. Between the 2022 and 2023 postseasons, he went an NFL-record six straight playoff games without a turnover or a sack. He has as many Super Bowl MVPs as touchdown passes thrown 20-plus air yards in the last two years (two). 

He protected the ball and made fewer flashy plays, but like any all-time great quarterback, elevated from game manager to game changer when it mattered most. In Super Bowl LVIII, he became the first player since the 1970 merger with 200-plus passing yards and 50-plus rushing yards after halftime of a playoff game. 

Game manager can still be a negative

Okay, relax all you internet trolls. Game manager can still be a negative. Kanell drew from his own experience after he was a backup for the Giants in 1997. He stepped in and went 7-2-1 with 11 touchdown passes and nine interceptions while playing with one of the best defenses in the league. 

"I was the definition of a game manager, and that's all I could do (chuckles). I remember having conversations with (head coach) Jim Fassel, and he's giving me advice before games. 'The sack can be a good thing. Don't be afraid to throw the ball away. Our defense is special.' Those are the types of things he was saying to me before games. Which was smart! That's a game manager, when you're having to tell your quarterback those types of reminders. That to me is when it's used in the derogatory sense, when that's all you're expected to do."

Context matters, Davis agreed. "Now if you're talking about a guy with an elite receiving core, elite running game, yet the last thing the coach says before he goes out there is, whatever you do, cause no harm, that's where the (traditional) game manager term applies, because you don't trust him."

So is Brock Purdy a game manager?

Some argued for much of last season that the description above fit Brock Purdy, but he silenced the critics by leading game-winning drives in back-to-back playoff games vs. the Packers and Lions. Those were not the drives led by a quarterback who was coached to "cause no harm."

Plenty of people came to Purdy's defense leading up to Super Bowl LVIII, arguing he managed the game in a good way and pointed to how his numbers were better than Mahomes. Purdy easily outperformed Mahomes in most areas that showcase game-changing ability. 

The quarterback matchup in the Super Bowl really illustrated the complexity of the game manager term. It's a positive trait unless that's all you can do, in which case it becomes a negative identity. Also, context matters! Both Purdy and Mahomes managed the game well last year despite vastly different numbers and talent around them. Both also proved they could elevate. 

Mahomes took what the defense gave him, did not take sacks and took care of the football. His numbers suffered with a struggling wide receiver core. Purdy made the right plays within his system and his numbers flourished with an all-time great supporting cast. Both reached the Super Bowl.

Kyle Shanahan offered this on Super Bowl opening night. "It's such a weird conversation to hear the whole world talking about this. In my opinion, there's no such thing as a great quarterback if you can't be a game manager. So, I don't get how being a system quarterback or a game manager is a negative. You're a game manager, you run the system right and you can make plays. Brock does all three of those things, so I don't get what we're talking about."

Alex Smith also defended Purdy as he showed his game-changing plays on ESPN last postseason. "I can tell you, as the unofficial president of the game manager's club, he's not allowed in," said Smith. "You don't get to make plays. Let's take a look at the next one. He's just a system QB, right? He doesn't elevate any of the players around him; I heard this all year. Let's take a look at the film."

Kanell argues this is only a conversation with Purdy because of his draft pick. "If Brock Purdy was a top-five overall pick. Let's say it was Trey Lance who was having this success. We would not be having this conversation. Because he was Mr. Irrelevant, that was initially all people thought he could be. A game manager. That was my expectation early, just keep things afloat, don't screw it up, manage the game, keep it above water. But I was proven wrong, like a lot of people, and he proved he can elevate his game."

That is the key to ultimately answering the above question. Is Brock Purdy a game manager? Yes, in the positive sense. Because he makes the right plays within Kyle Shanahan's system, but also proved last postseason that's not all he can do. He can elevate.

In case you need any more evidence for that question, here's a mountain of it from last season:

• He led the NFL in yards per pass attempt on throws traveling 0-plus, 5-plus, 10-plus, 15-plus, 20-plus and 25-plus yards downfield.
• He led the league in completion percentage on throws of 20-plus air yards (55 percent).
• The 49ers scored on 11 of 17 second-half drives last postseason, excluding kneel downs.
• He became the fifth quarterback ever with game-winning drives in the divisional round and conference championship in the same postseason.

These quarterbacks are also excused from the negative game manager talk

Purdy wasn't the only quarterback with a target on his back last year. Our analysts pointed out a few other quarterbacks who could be let off the hook.

"I think Tua (Tagovailoa) gets a knock for that because of his limited arm strength, what people don't appreciate is accuracy, his touch, ability to get the football out quickly, his toughness", explained Quinn. "Does he excel because of Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle, of course, as would any quarterback, but he's still been able to operate within that system in a way that's allowed him to be successful."

As Davis explained, many times quarterbacks end up in the line of fire here because they haven't shown up in big games. They shouldn't be confused with game managers. "Kirk Cousins falls into this heavy debate. His numbers are always going to be pretty good. He's got guys to throw the ball to downfield, he makes a lot of big plays during the season, but unfortunately he hasn't had playoff success."

Kanell agreed, "I think Kirk Cousins and Dak Prescott are very similar. I don't think people necessarily think of them as game managers, but they don't think they are big-game QBs."

So yes, question their playoff credentials, but don't insult them by calling them a game manager in the negative sense. 

That doesn't mean everyone is off the hook

Of course, the negative connotation associated with the term game manager still exists when as Kanell described it, "that's all you can do." 

When I think of game manager in that sense, 2000 Trent Dilfer comes to mind. He went 7-1 with 12 touchdown passes and 11 interceptions for the Super Bowl-champion Ravens, who had one of the best defenses ever. 

I wanted something a little more definitive though, so I looked at quarterbacks who really fit the mold (by the negative definition). Below is a list of the seasons since 2006 (when air yards were first tracked) where the quarterbacks finished among the 10 lowest qualifiers in each of the following categories:

• Turnover rate (protected the ball at all costs)
• Average pass length (did not air it out)
• Percentage of completions traveling 20-plus air yards (did not even complete the occasional deep ball)
• Team dropback rate (team did not put the ball in his hands a lot)

Kenny Pickett is the only player who fits the bill in 2023, which is not a surprise. The Steelers had a smashmouth offense where Pickett rarely stretched the field. While he protected the ball (0 turnovers in his final eight starts), it wasn't enough to save his job. Pickett has the fewest total touchdowns per game and fewest turnovers per game by any quarterback since 2000 (minimum 20 starts), one reason he is now a backup quarterback on the Eagles. He was a true game manager, in the negative sense of the term, last year. 

One player who nearly made this list was Daniel Jones in 2022. He made the cut in each category but the last, as the Giants just missed having one of the 10 lowest dropback rates in the league that year. You could definitely make a case Jones was a game manager in 2022 as he had the lowest turnover rate and lowest percentage of completions traveling 20-plus air yards. However, he proved he could elevate to a game changer at times, even without much of a supporting cast. He became the first quarterback ever with 300 passing yards, multiple touchdown passes and 70 rushing yards in a playoff game. Not bad. We'll see if he looks like more of a game manager or game changer in 2024.

As for the rest of the list, I found it interesting to see Jimmy Garopplo on the board for his final season with the 49ers in 2022. For all your Purdy haters, that was a true game manager season. Garoppolo made the right plays within Shanahan's system, but he didn't elevate. He wasn't a threat to stretch the field and the 49ers dropped back to pass at the third-lowest rate in the league. Garoppolo had three completions in his entire 49ers career traveling at least 30 yards downfield and outside the numbers. Purdy had seven alone last season. 

Alex Smith also made the game manager list in 2011, his first season with Jim Harbaugh when San Francisco made it to the conference championship game. You'll also find Drew Brees, but it's not a big shock when you consider it was his final season in 2020. As for Tom Brady in 2010, well, let's call that a fluke as he already proved he could throw 50 touchdowns in a season at that point. 2010 was a rare season when he did not air it out much.

Quarterback from 2024 class who can shed label

If there's a quarterback from the historic 2024 rookie class that people will look to cut down with the negative game manager label, it's J.J. McCarthy. 

It will be another challenge for him to overcome in 2025 on top of his recent season-ending injury.   

Right or wrong, he is an easy target. He has the third-best record by a starting quarterback in FBS history (27-1), culminating with a national championship at Michigan. He wasn't asked to carry the offense and he was backed by great defense. He also didn't put up video game numbers, or anything close to it.

"I would argue that he played to the system that asked him to be a game manager," explained Quinn. "But when he had chances to showcase the other skills and tools, with his escapability, his ability to run, make the right football decisions, especially in the clutch, on third downs, in some of those big games, he did. People have labeled him as that because of how dominant Michigan was running the football. That's not his fault."

McCarthy accounted for 36 percent of Michigan's touchdowns last season and 56 percent of its total offense, each by far the lowest among six quarterbacks drafted in the first round in 2024. A healthy McCarthy in 2025 should have an opportunity to do more in Minnesota with weapons like Justin Jefferson, Jordan Addison and T.J. Hockenson. 

Health aside, his NFL success will depend on how often he can elevate above a game manager, which Kanell is understandably skeptical of. "I think J.J. McCarthy was incredible as a game manager (in college). The issue I have with him is we haven't seen him asked to be a game changer many times. There were a few situations, a couple plays on the big stage, where he was asked to step up and he did. He is gonna have to elevate if the Vikings have their quarterback of the future. As a game manager, if that's all you can do, you'll probably be a spot starter and career backup. And that's my concern with J.J. McCarthy. I haven't seen enough on film to trust that he's going to be able to take that next step."

We'll have to hold our judgment on McCarthy for a bit, but at least now we should have a better idea of what a game manager actually is. It's a positive unless all you can do is manage a game. It's not so black and white, so let's stop and think about what game manager actually means before we throw it on every quarterback who is able to have success despite not having a cannon or the flashiest skills on earth. Actually watching a quarterback play helps. Film can tell you a lot. And let's face it, we won't always know how a quarterback is being coached, which also plays into it. I'd like to think the conversation has evolved and is a little more sophisticated after the Brock Purdy saga in 2023.