Brock Purdy brought new relevance to Mr. Irrelevant.
Taken with the last pick of the 2022 NFL Draft, Purdy is already the most high-profile final selection in league history, having won four playoff games in his short career and, now, earned a Super Bowl berth as quarterback of the San Francisco 49ers.
The 24-year-old Purdy’s improbable ascent invited new attention to the history of the Mr. Irrelevant nickname, which former NFL wide receiver Paul Salata coined in 1976 as a humorous nod recognizing the final pick in every draft.
Although Salata was not a final selection himself — he went 118th out of the 362 players taken in 1951 — the late 49ers and Baltimore Colts pass-catcher announced the Mr. Irrelevant pick at every draft until 2014, when his daughter took over.
Salata also founded the annual “Irrelevant Week” in which a given year’s Mr. Irrelevant makes a trip to Disneyland, is the subject of a roast and receives a “Lowsman Trophy” that resembles the player on the Heisman Trophy fumbling.
“Irrelevant Week does so much for the community and the NFL encourages it; it is very supportive,” Salata, who died in 2021, told The Los Angeles Times in 2012. “All the teams like it because it is about things that are moral building, equality of all the players, celebrating the underdog, and it’s not destructive.”
In most years, Mr. Irrelevant faces an uphill battle to make an NFL roster, either by the team that selected him or elsewhere. The 49ers’ selection of Purdy, who went 262nd overall out of Iowa State, certainly flew under the radar until season-ending injuries to quarterbacks Trey Lance and Jimmy Garapolo pushed Purdy into action in December 2022.
Purdy went 5-0 as a starter during his rookie regular season and won two more playoff games before an elbow injury forced him out of last year’s NFC Championship Game loss to the Eagles. Purdy became the first Mr. Irrelevant to throw a regular-season touchdown pass, as well as the first to start and win a playoff game at quarterback.
As a full-time starter this season, Purdy again operated coach Kyle Shanahan’s star-powered offense to a tee, passing for 4,280 yards and 31 touchdowns against 11 interceptions en route to an NFL-best 113.0 passer rating. He even used his legs for multiple big runs in the Niners’ come-from-behind win over the Lions in last week’s NFC Championship Game.
With a victory in Super Bowl LVIII against the Kansas City Chiefs, Purdy would become the first Mr. Irrelevant to win the Super Bowl at quarterback.
In 2002, Patriots linebacker Marty Moore became the first Mr. Irrelevant at any position to win the Super Bowl, though he did not appear in the game after tearing his Achilles earlier in the season. Former fullback Jim Finn, meanwhile, was on injured reserve with a shoulder issue for the Giants team that won the Super Bowl in February 2008.
Buccaneers kicker Ryan Succop won the Super Bowl in 2021, going 1-for-1 on field goals and 4-for-4 on extra points in Tampa Bay’s 31-9 win over the Chiefs.
Moore, Finn and Succop are among the most accomplished Mr. Irrelevants, having each played in more than 100 NFL games. Moore made 19 starts over eight seasons with the Patriots and Browns and totaled 173 tackles, three interceptions and two forced fumbles. Finn, who also played for the Colts, is one of two players ever to catch a pass from both Peyton Manning and Eli Manning. Succop appeared in 216 games with the Chiefs, Titans and Buccaneers and made 320 field goals at an 82.9% clip.
The only other Mr. Irrelevants to play in at least 50 games were former Washington and Carolina center Matt Elliott and former Chicago, Seattle and Washington defensive back Michael Green. Former Steelers guard Tyrone McGriff, meanwhile, played in 36 games, including 10 starts, for the Steelers over three seasons in the early 1980s.
More recently, the Giants found production from 2020’s Mr. Irrelevant, linebacker Tae Crowder, who led the team with 130 tackles during his sophomore season in 2021. Crowder started 31 of 41 games during parts of three seasons with the Giants but appeared in only two games this season with Tennessee.
Last year’s Mr. Irrelevant, Rams defensive end Desjuan Johnson, recorded five tackles, two sacks and a forced fumble as a rookie in 2023.
None, however, have come close to matching the impact of Purdy, who doesn’t take his underdog status lightly.
“I have a chip on my shoulder,” Purdy told the Mr. Irrelevant website shortly after being drafted. “I have this thing that is part of my story … and I can turn it around and make people go wow.”
