How the 49ers Will Structure Brock Purdy's Contract Extension

Brock Purdy's contract extension probably won't be nearly as expensive as it seems.
Jan 5, 2025; Glendale, Arizona, USA; San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy against the Arizona Cardinals at State Farm Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images
Jan 5, 2025; Glendale, Arizona, USA; San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy against the Arizona Cardinals at State Farm Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images / Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images
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Brock Purdy's contract extension probably won't be nearly as expensive as it seems.

Had he been eligible for an extension last year when he was coming off a Super Bowl appearance and a fourth-place MVP season, he would have gotten much more money. But now he's coming off a six-win season and suddenly his resume doesn't look nearly as strong. When he had an opportunity to show that he could lead the team without the help of Christian McCaffrey, he flopped.

The 49ers say they still want Purdy to be their quarterback for the foreseeable future. So here's how they can structure his extension.

They can structure it similarly to how the Packers structured Love's extension. Technically, it's a four-year, $220 million contract worth $55 million per season. But the final season is not guaranteed and his salary cap number is $75 million. So they'll either cut him or extend his contract again before the final season of his current season.

Which means Love's contract really is a three-year, $110 million deal. And I expect the 49ers will offer Purdy something similar to that. And I expect he'll accept it.

Purdy isn't in a position to hold out or ask for more than a year or two of guaranteed money. If he wanted a better deal, he should have led the offense to more than six points in their Week 15 do-or-die game against the Los Angeles Rams. He made himself much cheaper this season.

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Grant Cohn
GRANT COHN

Grant Cohn has covered the San Francisco 49ers daily since 2011. He spent the first nine years of his career with the Santa Rosa Press Democrat where he wrote the Inside the 49ers blog and covered famous coaches and athletes such as Jim Harbaugh, Colin Kaepernick and Patrick Willis. In 2012, Inside the 49ers won Sports Blog of the Year from the Peninsula Press Club. In 2020, Cohn joined FanNation and began writing All49ers. In addition, he created a YouTube channel which has become the go-to place on YouTube to consume 49ers content. Cohn's channel typically generates roughly 3.5 million viewers per month, while the 49ers' official YouTube channel generates roughly 1.5 million viewers per month. Cohn live streams almost every day and posts videos hourly during the football season. Cohn is committed to asking the questions that 49ers fans want answered, and providing the most honest and interactive coverage in the country. His loyalty is to the reader and the viewer, not the team or any player or coach. Cohn is a new-age multimedia journalist with an old-school mentality, because his father is Lowell Cohn, the legendary sports columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle from 1979 to 1993. The two have a live podcast every Tuesday. Grant Cohn grew up in Oakland and studied English Literature at UCLA from 2006 to 2010. He currently lives in Oakland with his wife.