Brock Purdy ended up throwing for a single-season franchise record 4,280 passing yards in 2023, but this season was far more underwhelming as the 49ers missed the playoffs.
The quarterback is now entering the final year of his rookie deal and looks set to become the highest-paid player in franchise history after Dak Prescott’s contract extension in September further inflated the market.
In a special crossover episode between “The Athletic Football Show” and “Scoop City”, Robert Mays and Dianna Russini discussed Purdy’s looming contract situation.
A partial transcript has been edited for clarity and length. The full episode is available in “The Athletic Football Show” feed on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
Dianna: I think there are some concerns from some people that this isn’t going to get done. And I don’t know if that’s because they’re not sure what that number is going to be or perhaps maybe the 49ers want to flirt with Kirk Cousins. But from everything I know, both sides are very committed to getting this deal done. I think they’re going to begin working on this very soon. This isn’t something they’re going to be pushing off or that we’re going to be discussing during training camp. I think this is something that they’re both in line with. Let’s get the ball rolling on this and figure out where we are going to land on a number. ‘Is Brock Purdy going to reset the market?’, is the question. Is that the (Dak) number his agent’s going to ask for? And is that going to be a number that the 49ers (are) going to be willing to pay?
Robert: I think it’s twofold. I think that number and the years are probably a consideration too. Dak walks into that negotiation with the Cowboys with the most leverage you can have if you are not one of the three best quarterbacks in the league. If you are not a Josh Allen or Patrick Mahomes-type quarterback, which Dak Prescott is not, I think he walked into that discussion with Dallas with the most leverage you could have in that tier of quarterbacks. I don’t think Brock Purdy is there. Even at a very simple level if this doesn’t work out and maybe he plays out his lame duck year, they can franchise tag him if they want to. There are so many more levers as part of the Brock Purdy discussion than there were with Dallas and Dak. If I’m Purdy’s people and I walk into this, I don’t think I would accept a dollar less than what Jordan Love and Trevor Lawrence got. But I think a markup on that sort of deal and that tier of deal makes more sense to me than giving him $62 million a year.
Dianna: Correct. Now my concern or question for how this is going to work out is, ‘how much are they going to be willing to sort of work together so they can keep this roster?’ We’ve seen quarterbacks in the past give not a team-friendly deal, but something fair for the 49ers to have some movement.
Robert: I think it’s about structure more than final numbers. And the 49ers have always been very good with this, they do tons of stuff where they’re creative with the cap. The example I can remember quarterback specific (is) how that Jimmy G (Garoppolo) deal was structured where it was super front-loaded because they had no players on the team. So they gave him a ton of money in year one and as they started to add talent he got cheaper over the life of that deal. That won’t happen here obviously because they have a very expensive roster. But I think the 49ers have shown an ability to be creative.
Dianna: You bring up Jimmy G… Jimmy had Don Yee as an agent, right? Tons of experience, and he has a bunch of big-name coaches as well. He’s been around forever, obviously was Tom Brady’s agent (and) he reps Sean Payton. Brock (Purdy) has a younger agent, a newer agent so to speak. He’s been doing it for a while, but he doesn’t have a lot of big-name clients yet and this would definitely be his biggest deal. So I wonder how that factors into it because you have professional gains here for him as an agent to try to get his client the most money he possibly can. So, he can continue to show the players around the league, ‘Look what I can do for you.’ How do you think Drew Rosenhaus started? So I’m interested to see how the negotiations will go.
Robert: Even if they don’t want to reset the market, do you feel the 49ers are comfortable paying him that $55 to $60 million range?
Dianna: Yeah, I think that’s going to be the number that they wind up sitting at. I think the agent is going to try to get more but they’ll wind up settling in that area.
Let’s make it clear though, I don’t think Brock Purdy’s sitting there going, ‘I’m demanding I want to be the highest-paid quarterback.’ I think for Brock Purdy if it was up to him he’d probably make a little bit more than he is now as long as he can drive his Toyota. I don’t think this is the type of player that’s in this to be the richest man in football. I think he just wants to be paid what he’s worth and continue to try to improve it and get them a Super Bowl.
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(Top Photo: Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)
