Brock Purdy put the league on notice last season with his stellar play in the playoffs and even against the league's best quarterback.

The 23-year-old is a seventh-round pick in the 2022 draft by the San Francisco 49ers, but it did not take him that long to carve his name in the league that now, some pundits see him as among the league's best quarterbacks.

Stephen A. Smith believes Purdy is now the National Football Conference's second-best QB next to Jalen Hurts. He was not even in the Top 8 of Fox Sports in April.

The firebrand commentator released a new list of NFCs best field generals with many veterans retired. Nothing was surprising in his Top 5 list until Purdy's name came up in second, higher than Derek Carr.

"Because he's coached by Kyle Shanahan, that's why," Smith explained in his show First Take.

"Because he's got Deebo Samuel and George Kittle as a weapon. That's why. Because this man got the job mid-season, showed up, and showed out (and) guided them to an NFC Championship Game ...

"Prior to that, they had this brother right here, and what did they do? They went to the NFC Championship Game. And oh, by the way, they were balling in the process of doing so ... Brock Purdy deserves consideration as a top-two quarterback."

Why not higher than Jalen Hurts?

Hurts of the Philadelphia Eagles, who just signed a five-year contract extension for $255 million, is Smith's number one. Why?

Smith explained that Hurts' outstanding plays in the last Super Bowl make him the man to beat.

"Jalen Hurts, who came into the league about four years after Dak Prescott, has elevated himself significantly above Dak Prescott and practically above anyone else," he explained.