The San Francisco 49ers are trying to reach a contract extension with Brock Purdy, making him among the highest-paid players in the league. However, could they be better off trading him?
Pudy struggled last season when everything around him was not perfect. The 49ers lost key players like Deebo Samuel, Dre Greenlaw, Charvarius Ward and Talanoa Hufanga. The 49ers roster will be as depleted as it has in Purdy’s time with the team, and Sports Illustrated’s Grant Cohn believes he has not proven he can win with a roster where $60 million is dedicated to the quarterback.
“He was awful in the second half of nearly every game that mattered,” wrote Cohn, discussing how Purdy’s Pro Football Focus grades pain him to be better than he actually is. “He threw 8 touchdown passes and 10 picks in the second half compared to 12 touchdown passes and 2 picks in the first half. He melted down in tight games. Instead of paying Purdy $60 million, a better move would be to trade Purdy for a first-round pick and sign Aaron Rodgers for roughly half the price. Because Purdy isn’t two times better than Rodgers and a first-round pick. In fact, Purdy might not be any better than Rodgers.”
Trading Purdy and netting a first-round pick would allow the 49ers to reload their roster quickly and potentially find a new franchise quarterback. Meanwhile, Rodgers could try and help the team compete with the talent they did not lose in free agency and potentially mentor a young quarterback like he did with Jordan Love.
Despite what the 49ers think of Purdy’s ability, there was a clear difference in his play last season when the talent around him was not perfect. Right now the 49ers are in between a rebuild and contending. Trading Purdy would allow them to try and find a young, more talented signal caller to build around.
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At the same time, allowing Rodgers to join forces with Kyle Shanahan would not waste the talent of veterans they have under contract, like Brandon Aiyuk and Christian McCaffrey. Essentially, what Cohn is suggesting is the 49ers trade Purdy and commit to a full rebuild. However, wait to start until after Rodgers is ready to retire, and allow him to mentor a young quarterback and make do with the veteran talent in the mean time.
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