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Kyle Shanahan’s old best friend calls 49ers' Brock Purdy ‘lesser Mac Jones’

The friendship between San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan and NBC pundit Chris Simms is so deep, and so well-known (they have tattoos of each other's initials) that, in the lead-up to the 2021 NFL Draft, the football world paid close attention to Simms' proclamations that Shanahan would take Alabama's Mac Jones after trading up to acquire the No. 3 pick.

As this author wrote at the time, a Jones selection at No. 3 would have been a fireable offense. The meteoric ascent of seventh-round pick Brock Purdy is evidence that Shanahan doesn't need to trade away three first-round picks to land a passer he trusts to run his offense.