Under coach Kyle Shanahan and G.M. John Lynch, it took the 49ers six years to find an answer at the quarterback position. Now that they have one, it feels as if they’re preparing to grossly overpay him.
This isn’t an anti-Brock Purdy take. It’s a realistic assessment of the market, the salary cap, and Purdy’s value if/when he were available to be signed by any other team.
None of that really matters, however. Because the 49ers seem to have willingly painted themselves into a corner, while also making their haphazard brushwork a built-in excuse for the regression to come.
They reportedly opened the talks at $45 million per year. That’s high for a starter. It points to a final deal that starts with a five.
Here’s what else points to Purdy joining the $50 million per year club: Owner Jed York admitted that Purdy is a top-10 quarterback. Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts is currently the tenth highest-paid quarterback, at $51 million per year.
The 49ers reportedly have undergone an “organizational reset,” sparked by splurging on other players who perhaps didn’t live up to the contracts. It sure doesn’t sound that way as to Purdy.
York treats it as an inevitability, as a subject on which the team has no choice. The quarterback has earned a massive, market-level contract. Which means they have to tighten the belt elsewhere. And they’re saying so.
It doesn’t have to be that way. The 49ers have leverage. Purdy is under contract for $5.3 million this year. The franchise tag for the quarterback position is currently $40.241 million.
The 49ers could do what the Cowboys did with Dak Prescott. Squat on the fourth year of his contract, tag him once, and then either pay him or tag him twice, knowing that he’ll become a free agent after the second tag.
Yes, the Cowboys ultimately waited too long to pay Dak. In this case, maybe the 49ers aren’t waiting long enough.
What would Purdy get on the open market? It’s a fair question. And if the answer is he’d get less than whatever the 49ers seem to be preparing to pay him, why are the 49ers preparing to pay him that much money?
After York admitted that Purdy is a top-10 quarterback (others would put him in the top-15, at best), York added this qualifier: “when you combine him with Kyle and what we have.” Yes, Kyle has a lot to do with it.
If Purdy’s top-15ish performances are fueled by Shanahan’s expertise in designing and calling plays, why should the 49ers give Purdy a top-10 contract?
The counter to that is simple. They’ve struggled to find an answer at the position. Jimmy Garoppolo ultimately failed. Trey Lance flamed out. And let’s not forget that they passed on Patrick Mahomes, because Shanahan was waiting for Kirk Cousins.
Still, the 49ers now have Mac Jones. The guy Shanahan supposedly wanted when the 49ers traded up to No. 3 in 2021. Why rush to fill Purdy’s pockets with more money than the last pick in the draft could ever dream to make when there are options?
And when it’s still possible that Purdy’s performances will slip to top-20 with the shifts in the roster sparked by the decision to give him perhaps much more than they should.
We firmly believe the best players should be paid the most money. Mahomes. Josh Allen. Lamar Jackson. Joe Burrow. We also don’t believe Purdy is in that conversation yet — and that he might never be.
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