Henry McKenna
NFL reporter
Brock Purdy’s present contract is likely one of the easiest within the NFL.
It’s been 4 years. No choices. He’s value $3.7 million over that span. No bonuses past the signing bonus: $77,000, the NFL equal of telling a bartender to maintain his change.
But this easy, little deal is what makes his subsequent contract so convoluted.
Negotiations loom for the San Francisco 49ers and the urgency for a brand new (and big) deal will develop, beginning this offseason when he shall be eligible for an extension for the primary time. To make issues sophisticated, 2024 has proven extra vulnerability than we have ever seen. He was at his worst when the stakes have been monetary.
On the one hand, he isn’t negotiating from a place of energy. His contract is essentially the most team-friendly state of affairs within the NFL. He’s not enjoying effectively. And he is a latest Mr. Irrelevant, which suggests there in all probability aren’t many basic managers across the league who preferred him going undrafted three years in the past and are actually pondering: Let’s construct round this.
On the opposite hand, he’s a star quarterback, placing up 4,280 passing yards and 31 passing touchdowns in 2023. He is 4-2 within the playoffs. If the 49ers do not pay him, another person will. And if that different staff brings Purdy again into 2023 kind, it would jeopardize the employment of GM John Lynch and coach Kyle Shanahan if they do not discover a comparable alternative.
There’s nonetheless so much we do not learn about their upcoming negotiations: Where does Purdy suppose his worth lies? Would you maintain out for Dak Prescott’s $60 million annual wage? And how a lot do the 49ers like Purdy, or really feel they want him, to achieve success?
We’ve by no means seen a contract mushroom like Purdy’s. He is ready to make $1 million in 2025. With an extension, his wage cap may multiply between 50 and 60 occasions.
If it is the best finish, the 49ers need to take into consideration the place to create that $59 million per 12 months. The math of the wage cap is as a lot voodoo as it’s science. But only for context, you’ll be able to add up the cap hits for left deal with Trent Williams ($22 million), receiver Deebo Samuel ($16 million), working again Christian McCaffrey ($10 million) and lead Leonard Floyd ( $10 million) and also you get $58 million. I’m not saying that if you happen to signal Purdy, you will instantly lose all these gamers. Or any of them (straight away). The 49ers have $66 million in cap area, in line with Over The Cap. They can really afford Purdy’s new deal. But occasions have been glad and glad round San Francisco. Things will get smoother with Purdy’s cost.
Look at how the Chiefs and Bills have needed to make powerful choices in recent times. A quarterback extension adjustments the monetary basis of a staff. After Patrick Mahomes’ historic extension, the Chiefs misplaced Pro Bowl expertise, parting methods with cornerback La’Jarius Snead (2024), deal with Orlando Brown (2023) and receiver Tyreek Hill (2022). And the Bills had large offseason turnover in 2024 (which is what I believe the getting older 49ers may need to do), with the departures of receivers Stefon Diggs and Gabe Davis, cornerback Tre’Davious White, safeties Jordan Poyer and Micah Hyde and Mitch Morse at middle. This is essentially because of Josh Allen’s contract.
This is it what would occur subsequent in San Francisco.
You lose your stars within the offseason to the quarterback.
But you proceed to win all through the season, due to your quarterback.
Is this how Purdy will look?
Is Purdy chargeable for the 49ers’ poor efficiency in opposition to the Rams?
The 49ers could also be getting a preview of what is to come back. After coming inside a whisker of successful the Super Bowl final season, accidents have hampered their leads to 2024 as a lot as any staff within the league, with Williams, Samuel, McCaffery, Jordan Mason, Brandon Aiyuk and George Kittle having missed a number of video games, and that is simply on offense. McCaffrey and Aiyuk have been absent for a lot of the season.
Meanwhile, Purdy has struggled with how a lot he can step up for the 49ers. It looks like he desires to take management of video games, however he lacks the expertise to take action. Every week was a recreation of Goldilocks: too sizzling, too chilly, good.
Week 7 vs. Kansas City? Too sizzling. Too cheeky. Too daring. He was 17 of 31 for 212 yards and three interceptions with two dashing touchdowns. He missed some landing alternatives by throwing below his receivers. Afterward, Shanahan and Purdy had a protracted dialog in entrance of the QB’s locker — in entrance of the media, a uncommon public efficiency by Shanahan.
“Is there extra stress to placed on a Superman cape and do extra? No,” Purdy stated after the sport. “We are very proficient, in my eyes.”
Week 12 vs. Buffalo? Too chilly. Literally, it was freezing and snowy. Purdy could not get something going, persevering with his historical past of struggles in inclement climate: 11 of 18 for 94 yards and two carries for 4 yards. That’s all. That’s the entire statistic. Definitely too chilly.
“It sucks,” Purdy said after the game. “Now right here we’re, 5-7. This is simply the truth. This is the NFL. But we now have to be males and do one thing about it, and we now have the proper guys within the locker room to do it. I do know that. I place confidence in that. And all the things It additionally begins with myself. I’ve to do my job higher.”
Week 13 in opposition to the Bears? Right. Purdy appeared to know his position within the offense as a distributor, even when his guys have been subs for the celebs. Purdy leaned on Kittle (151 receiving yards), receiver Jauan Jennings (90 receiving yards) and working again Isaac Guerendo (128 scrimmage yards). The 49ers blew out the Bears, 38-13, and Purdy had three passing touchdowns. As it seems, Purdy gave a pre-game speech that was electrifying.
“He is a rare chief” Lynch said. “First of all, how he performed in opposition to the Bears, I noticed a man play with conviction, with confidence, with a aggressive spirit after which he performed the sport at a extremely excessive degree. He threaded the needle on a few of these balls. Fantastic. Played aggressively.
It could be argued that Purdy’s season is generally the product of recreation plans gone awry and elements exterior of his management. Purdy had no say in Aiyuk and Williams’ sluggish contract negotiations, which led to sluggish begins for each gamers. The accidents to Aiyuk and McCaffrey have been a stroke of horrible luck. And the truth that it seemed that means did not assist the season that NFL defenses have found out methods to decelerate Shanahan’s offense. Just ask CJ Stroud and once-in-demand offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik how he felt about them. (They run Shanahan’s system.) It would not harm Shanahan to see how Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell, with struggling QB Sam Darnold, has developed his offense since working with Sean McVay.
But it is also as much as the franchise quarterback to place out these fires and create a way of continuity, even when there’s no. When you get again to shifting wage cap numbers, you get again to the expertise drain of supporting solid members who (if we belief what we noticed in 2024) are important to his success.
And talking of Darnold, he’ll hit free company after this season. He spent a 12 months in San Francisco, which gave the impression to be the turning level of his profession. Could Shanahan have an interest? Maybe for $35-$40 million a 12 months? And talking of the 2025 offseason, the draft lacks top-tier expertise however has a reasonably strong inventory of Day 2 quarterbacks. I may see that Shanahan preferred the distinctive mixture of arm expertise and athleticism that comes from prospects like Jalen Milroe, Quinn Ewers and/or Jaxson Dart. If the 49ers do not just like the quarterbacks on this 12 months’s class, they may check out the 2026 class if Purdy’s negotiations lengthen into the 2025 common season.
Is the 49ers’ Super Bowl window formally closed?
The 49ers should not rush Purdy.
He’s on a rookie contract by means of 2025. The franchise tag is technically an choice by means of 2028, although they’d really solely use it as soon as to get by means of 2026.
We maintain saying that, sooner or later, an NFL staff will buck the pattern of paying quarterbacks and pushing the market greater. Because I believe we could be trustworthy in saying that that is getting out of hand. Jordan Love is clearly a superb quarterback, however he made $220 million ($55 million per 12 months) after only one season as a starter. Trevor Lawrence acquired $275 million ($55 million a 12 months) whereas undertaking completely nothing. Dak is a prolific passer, however are we certain he is value $60 million a 12 months? Just wait till you see what Mahomes and Allen get this offseason once they get wholesome.
If there’s one coach-GM mixture that may achieve rebuking their QB’s contract calls for, it is Shanahan and Lynch. Think about how seamlessly they transitioned from Jimmy Garoppolo to Purdy in 2022 and the way shortly Garoppolo’s play declined after leaving San Francisco. Purdy is a greater participant than Garoppolo. (That was abundantly clear in 2022, when Purdy improved Garoppolo’s offense.) But Garoppolo’s decline makes you ponder whether Shanahan and the 49ers’ ability gamers have stalled Purdy’s manufacturing, which might make him replaceable.
I do not suppose the 49ers can have the braveness to exchange Purdy. Shanahan nonetheless loves Purdy regardless of their tough season, in line with MMQB’s Albert Breer. But he is completed sufficient this 12 months to name into query whether or not Purdy shall be pretty much as good as his supporting solid. That kind of QB will not do effectively when he is making $60 million a season. And that form of contract can break a franchise for the foreseeable future. It could be smart to attend till at the least 2025, as a result of even when they find yourself paying $65 million per 12 months in 2026, they’ll accomplish that with confidence.
You cannot have lots of religion in Purdy after what he did in 2024.
It can not – with certainty – be stated that he deserves to reset the marketplace for any purpose apart from fashionable conference: he’s subsequent.
You cannot pay Purdy. Not but.
Pick a quarterback. Deal with headlines, optics and awkwardness. If a rookie ruins Purdy’s confidence, you in all probability don’t need him anyway. But extra importantly, see if Purdy can earn his record-breaking contract in a make-or-break 2025 season. Make certain the 2024 season was the exception, not the rule, for Purdy.
Before becoming a member of FOX Sports as an NFL reporter and columnist, Henry McKenna spent seven years masking the Patriots for USA TODAY Sports Media Group and Boston Globe Media. Follow him on Twitter at @henrycmckenna.
(Want nice tales delivered proper to your inbox? Create or log in to your FOX Sports account, comply with leagues, groups and gamers to obtain a customized e-newsletter day by day.)
Get extra from the National Football League Follow your favorites to get data on video games, information and extra
