Quarterback Brock Purdy's first healthy offseason as the San Francisco 49ers starter is off to an eventful start. In addition to getting married, hosting youth football camps and fine-tuning his on-the-field skills, the third-year QB has partnered with John Deere on a new campaign to find the brand's first-ever "Chief Tractor Officer." The role is a content creator and influencer position with John Deere that is meant to highlight farming and construction in creative ways.
To help the company launch its search for the CTO, Purdy and his teammate, offensive lineman Colton McKivitz, shot a commercial with John Deere in the Bernal Heights neighborhood of San Francisco in late February. The finished product hit the airwaves and social media on April 16.
It was during the commercial shoot that Purdy unintentionally saved KPIX-TV's "The Late News" anchor Sara Donchey, her child and her dog from coming in contact with a coyote roaming the streets. Donchey first spoke about her near-coyote encounter on a newscast in February, but the story didn't gain national attention until it was further discussed on ESPN's "The Pat McAfee Show" on Tuesday.
"I can't believe that was a real thing," Purdy said to McAfee. "But, she walked by, and sure enough, she said she was a news anchor and I was like, 'Dude, I just saved a news anchor's life from being eaten by a coyote.' It's real. I can confirm it."
"I was walking my dog when this happened. I was watching from Bernal Heights Park when I suddenly heard Brock scream, 'Coyote!'" Donchey said on a KPIX-TV newscast. "I turned around, and I saw the biggest coyote I had ever seen sneaking up behind me and my dog.
"My dog is huge... He would have been fine, but when I walked back down the hill, one of the film crew guys said, 'Hey! Brock Purdy saved your life!'"
"We're shooting this commercial by a hill on the outside of the city, and I see this thing (coyote) trotting by," Purdy described. "It had a long tail. I was like, 'It looks like a mini wolf.' No one was going to scream so, I screamed, 'Yo, there is a coyote!' That thing went running off. It could have been an ugly day on the shoot, but we saved her."
To watch Purdy and McKivitz in action as they launch the search for John Deere's CTO, click here.
