The San Francisco 49ers’ entire offseason is predicated on how they handle Brock Purdy’s looming contract negotiations.
After three seasons of incredibly cheap production from their former seventh-round quarterback, the 49ers are now faced with the specter of paying Purdy top dollar to continue starting games for them.
Regardless of one’s opinion on whether or not he deserves a lucrative extension, there’s no doubt it will put more constraints on their ability to sign other star players if San Francisco does extend Purdy. In the unlikely event that they don’t extend him at all, he’s slated to be paid $5 million next season.
Could the two sides come to an agreement that will make Purdy rich, yet still give San Francisco some flexibility?
On Wednesday, Michael Ginnitti of Spotrac predicted that Purdy would get a four-year, $194 million extension including $100 million guaranteed. Ginnitti used the New York Giants’ 2023 extension of $160 million for Daniel Jones as the template for his projection.
“Has Purdy done enough to demand a near top of the market contract? Does his value outside of the 49ers create leverage? Will the Niners play hardball here? Common sense says the two sides move quickly on this deal, coming in at a healthy, but not crushing, bottom line number,” Ginnitti wrote.
“Let’s keep this simple and cap adjust the Daniel Jones contract from 2023:
“Prediction: 4 years, $194M, $100M guaranteed.”
While an average annual value of $48.5 million is by no means cheap, the 49ers would still be saving some money compared to recent contracts for the Dallas Cowboys’ Dak Prescott ($60 million AAV) and the Green Bay Packers’ Jordan Love ($55 million AAV).
Of course, Jones didn’t even make it two years into his Giants extension before he requested and received his release this past season. The Giants are on the hook for over $22 million in dead money for Jones next season.
The 49ers would certainly hope to avoid a similar scenario, but the Jones contract was designed in a way that it wouldn’t crush New York if Jones’ deal went south–as it did. Ideally, Purdy would make them look like geniuses by having more stellar seasons instead.
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