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even harder to prove wrong. Now, with Purdy trying to become the first non-special teams player with the Mr. Irrelevant title to play in and win a Super Bowl, people are starting to see the Mr. Irrelevant moniker as it was intended: a fun way to honor the ultimate underdog.

It only helps that Purdy has embraced having been the 262nd and final pick of the 2022 NFL draft. Asked Monday at Super Bowl Media Day whether he needs a new nickname, Purdy said, “I’m OK with Mr. Irrelevant.” Later, when asked to name the eight quarterbacks drafted before him 21 months ago, Purdy conceded that he’s “not that kind of guy” and that he doesn’t hold a grudge against the 31 teams that passed on him.

“When I got drafted last, did I freak out? Did I panic? No,” Purdy said. “It’s easy to, but more than anything, I was just grateful. I had a grateful mindset. And I had an opportunity to go play for the 49ers.”

This sound bite delighted many other former Mr. Irrelevants. Instead of letting his last-pick status be a burden, Purdy has reimagined what is possible. Anyone picked last on the blacktop at recess can look at Purdy’s story and remember that a draft position is merely other people’s opinions — not a guarantee of someone’s role.

Entering Sunday’s Super Bowl against the Chiefs, Purdy is a Pro Bowler, an MVP finalist and the face of one of the NFL’s most storied franchises. His production — 6,742 passing yards, 49 touchdowns and only 16 interceptions in just 30 career regular-season and postseason games — leaves little doubt about his abilities.

Still, Purdy hears a lot of criticism. The suggestions that he is merely the beneficiary of a loaded supporting cast. The jabs about being a “game manager” and “system quarterback.” The predictions that he will soon be exposed.

Mark Willard, a longtime sports-talk radio host in the Bay Area, attributes many of those antiPurdy stances to what he calls “draftism.” Athletes’ draft slots serve as projections. When an athlete who goes deep in the draft — or perhaps even goes undrafted — beats the odds to enjoy tons of success, some will nitpick.

Only six of the 48 Mr. Irrelevants have appeared in more than 50 NFL games. Before Purdy got some garbage-time snaps against the Chiefs early last season, none of the seven quarterbacks with the Mr. Irrelevant label had so much as completed a pass in a regular-season game.

How, then, can Purdy be such an outlier? Surely, he will start to show why he heard 261 names called before his in the draft. Right? Right?

Fellow Mr. Irrelevants aren’t so sure. David Vobora (2008), a gym owner in Dallas who started 16 games for the Rams at linebacker, has studied how Purdy consistently reads defenses, finds open receivers and delivers balls in just the right spot. Vobora’s takeaway — that Purdy has the makings of an all-time great — is no longer some hot take.

“There’s a lot of people who wrote him off who are kind of waiting for an I-told-you-so moment,” Vobora said. “I just don’t think it’s going to come. There’s a chance he could play really poorly in the Super Bowl and kind of validate some people’s criticisms of him, but I just don’t see that happening.

“I think he’s very comfortable with who he is and what he does well, and he doesn’t really let the noise affect him. That’s what makes him so special.”

It didn’t take head coach Kyle Shanahan long to realize as much. As 49ers CEO Jed York revealed last Thursday, Shanahan already knew early in Purdy’s first NFL training camp in summer 2022 that Purdy would eventually be the starting quarterback.

This anecdote only added to Purdy’s lore. Just