SANTA CLARA >> Brock Purdy is running more, Kyler Murray is running less and it’s been beneficial for both the 49ers and Arizona Cardinals.

Purdy will never rush for 833 yards in a season as Murray did in 2020. Nor is Murray being asked to be Purdy. Yet each is ascending because their playing styles are adding the strengths possessed by the other while at the same time refining what they do best.

Through four games, Purdy has run the ball 18 times for 75 yards and eight first downs for the 49ers (2-2). Murray has 16 carries or 164 yards and seven first downs for the Cardinals (1-3) going in to Sunday’s game at Levi’s Stadium.

Purdy was was the last pick of the 2022 NFL Draft, an afterthought. Murray, by contrast, was the first pick of the 2019 draft out of Oklahoma. His passing and running skills were so abundant that the Cardinals and talent evaluators all over the league looked the other way despite a height (5-foot-10) that for decades was deemed insufficient to be an NFL quarterback, let alone the No. 1 overall selection.

The league has discovered only recently that Purdy can do damage with the play as called.