NFC Notes: Matthew Stafford, Brock Purdy, 49ers, Rams, Seahawks

49ers

49ers QB Brock Purdy recalls that HC Kyle Shanahan told him that only retired QB Tom Brady would be the only thing standing between him and the starting job for the 2023 season, and luckily Brady never came out of retirement as Purdy had a fantastic first season as the team’s full-time starter.

“That meant so much to me,” Purdy said, via 49ersWire.com. “I remember him saying, if we can get Tom Brady, we’re going to try to get him. And I was like, ‘Yeah, he’s the GOAT. I get it.’ But something deep down inside me was sort of like, ‘Dude, I just showed you that I can play well in this system. And we were one game away from the Super Bowl.’ … More than anything, I was like, ‘OK, now let’s go.’”

Rams

Rams HC Sean McVay and his team did better than most expected in 2023, with McVay saying he had a fun season that saw the rise of some exciting young stars who hope to start Los Angeles off on the right foot in 2024.

“I’m so proud of this football team,” McVay said, via RamsWire.com. “And the finality of it is still kind of – it doesn’t totally resonate. But man, did I learn a lot and really appreciate this group. They helped me find my way again and how much I love this and love the people that I’m around. … More than anything, just the appreciation and the gratitude is what sticks out to me about this team. I think the further that you get away from the raw emotions of it, the more appreciation they’ll have for what they did. And I think there’s a lot of things that we can build on, but you got to do it. As we know, and this group is an example of it, the preseason stuff doesn’t mean (expletive). You’ve got to be able to go earn it and every single year is a new year, but I do think we’ve got a lot of really key and critical guys that we’re excited about building and continuing to develop and work with. And then there’s a lot of guys that might not be here that, man, I loved working with them. Certainly learned a lot from this group.”

“Man, it was fun. I had a blast,” McVay added. “It was a heck of a challenge, but I got to sit there and push guys, but also watch guys come into their own in this league and it’s not an easy thing to do. We got a lot of young guys and not only rookies, but guys who hadn’t played a lot of football, but stepped into big-time roles and became huge pieces of our team and stars in our league. So proud of those guys and happy to be a part of a team that has a group of guys like that. It takes everybody, right? It takes coaches, it takes trainers, strength staff, everything, to get to these points in the season and came up a little bit short today, but really proud of those guys.”

• McVay on if the team is committed to QB Matthew Stafford in 2024: “100 percent. Absolutely. Unequivocally yes…Oh, man. That would be a way to really get me riled up.” (Andrew Siciliano)
• McVay on whether fourth-round QB Stetson Bennett will be with the team in 2024: “You know, I don’t know that. I think that’s a conversation for another time. I think he’s doing better but I wouldn’t be in a position to answer that accurately right now.” (Gary Klein)

Seahawks

• ESPN’s Jordan Raanan reports Seahawks ST coordinator Larry Izzo is on the radar for the same position with the Giants.
• CBS Sports’ Jonathan Jones reports Giants OC Mike Kafka will interview for the Seahawks HC position on Friday.
• Seahawks GM John Schneider says he will now have control over all personnel and coaching decisions. (Curtis Crabtree)
• Schneider: “We are all here today because we underachieved in 2023. We all did. And now we’re in a situation where we all need to get better.” (Crabtree)
• Seahawks OL Abraham Lucas posted on social media that he was undergoing knee surgery. (HawkMania)