Joe Montana endorses 49ers paying Purdy: ‘It’s not like he hasn’t done the job’
STATELINE, Nev. — Joe Montana strolled in relative anonymity among the American Century Championship gallery at Edgewood Tahoe Golf Course.
It was both wistfully nostalgic and picturesque to see him and his wife, Jennifer, walking up the 10th fairway Friday following, of course, former 49ers teammate Jerry Rice, who was playing with Tony Romo and Brian Urlacher.
“Do you guys know who this is? He’s pretty good,” Romo, a former Dallas Cowboys quarterback and current CBS analyst, announced to a few fans as he put his arm around Montana.
“So you throw a ball, and he’d see it before everybody else,” Romo continued. “Him and (Tom) Brady, the greatest of all time.”
Soon after, Montana took a moment to dole out a compliment to current 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy.
Montana endorsed the 49ers’ record-setting, $265 contract they awarded two months ago to Purdy.
“Yeah, well they have to. I mean, it’s not like he hasn’t done the job,” Montana said in an exclusive interview with the Bay Area News Group. “He’s been fairly consistent. He had a lot of injuries. Those are all the tough to deal with.”
Montana, who delivered the 49ers’ first four Super Bowl victories in the 1980s, has kept up with Purdy’s career ascent on the 49ers.
“He plays within himself,” Montana said. “Usually you see in the second year — which he didn’t really do much — is try so much to be better and, ‘Oh I can do this now.’ You see a lot of that from the first-year wonders, and you think, what are they going to do next year, and they think they can do everything.
“He played within himself and did what he’s supposed to.”
Four years ago, Montana was skeptical about the 49ers’ commitment to Jimmy Garoppolo, who signed a $137.5 million deal after a five-game stint in 2017.
Purdy, the 262nd and last pick of the 2022 draft, reached the NFC Championship Game as a rookie, then recovered from elbow surgery to set a franchise record with 4,280 passing yards in 2023 en route to the Super Bowl. Last season, Purdy and the injury-ravaged 49ers plummeted to a 6-11, last-place finish.
Montana acknowledged how injuries and defensive deficiencies roiled the 2024 NFC title defense, but he shrugged off all that.
“You can look over anybody’s teams, even our years, it didn’t matter. We all had ups and downs,” Montana said. “It’s just about coming back from where they are.”
This offseason, although the 49ers paid Purdy, they also bid farewell to over 20 free agents and will rely on young reinforcements to their defense. To that, Montana also shrugged, saying: “All the teams are making changes.”
Montana noted it’s been “many moons” since he played on the celebrity golf circuit here, even hosting his own tournament some 20 years ago. He and former Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice will serve as co-chairs of next month’s U.S. Amateur at The Olympic Club.
Montana’s cameo in Rice’s gallery during Friday’s opening round wasn’t exactly planned.
“We were coming out of hospitality and he happened to be teeing off,” Montana said. “We were trying to find him. Perfect timing.”
Nothing has changed in that regard over 40 years.