Brock Purdy's new contract puts 49ers in a spot where the franchise won't be the same if it doesn't work out
It's official: Brock Purdy and the San Francisco have agreed to a five-year, $256 million deal that averages $53 million per season and includes $181 million in total guarantees. Purdy is now the NFL's seventh-highest paid quarterback in terms of annual average value (AAV), capping a truly remarkable story for the former Mr. Irrelevant. Purdy helped […]
It's official: Brock Purdy and the San Francisco have agreed to a five-year, $256 million deal that averages $53 million per season and includes $181 million in total guarantees.
Purdy is now the NFL's seventh-highest paid quarterback in terms of annual average value (AAV), capping a truly remarkable story for the former Mr. Irrelevant.
Purdy helped the 49ers get to the NFC Championship Game as a rookie in 2022 and then led them to a Super Bowl appearance the next season as a first-year starter. He's completed 67.5% of his passes for 9,518 yards 64 touchdowns and 2the 7 interceptions, while averaging a quarterback rating of 104.9 over the course of 40 games.
It's a deal everyone knew was coming – it was always a matter of "when" and not "if". The 49ers have spent the offseason retooling their roster in order to make room for the deal by releasing or refusing to re-sign some very notable contributors. Injuries and other factors played major roles in 2024's disappointing result and not all of the moves were directly related to Purdy's deal – but it's fair to say the deal factored into the vast majority, if not all, to some extent.
And it's put the franchise in a spot where it's going to be trouble if Purdy fails to live up to the deal. Whether it's through poor play, injury, or whatever – if this doesn't work then the 49ers are going to have a very tough time fielding a competitive team for the next few years. Leaving them in a potentially troublesome spot that could be detrimental in both the short and long term.
I mean, one doesn't have to look any further than Deshaun Watson's deal with the Browns, Russell Wilson's deal with the Broncos, or even Kirk Cousins' deal with the Falcons to realize just how much it hurts a team if a high-priced QB doesn't live up to his deal.
Again, this is a team that was competitive for the last couple of years and now it has a rebuilt roster that is nowhere as near as impressive on paper as it's been. With Purdy's contract now in place, it's going to be a lot harder to add substantial improvements outside of the draft. And even then, the draft is a crapshoot and it's not like the 49ers have been hitting it out of the park lately.
If it does work, though, then the 9ers should remain yearly playoff competitors because they'll have a signal-caller capable of getting them there and when a team has that, it's already won more than half the battle of getting to the postseason.
