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Should the 49ers Sign Aaron Rodgers and Trade Brock Purdy?

I'm guessing Rodgers would love to take Purdy's job.

Grant Cohn

Sep 9, 2024; Santa Clara, California, USA; New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers (8) greets San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy (13) after a game at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: David Gonzales-Imagn Images
Sep 9, 2024; Santa Clara, California, USA; New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers (8) greets San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy (13) after a game at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: David Gonzales-Imagn Images / David Gonzales-Imagn Images
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Clearly, the 49ers' first choice is to keep Brock Purdy.

But if he threatens to hold out unless the 49ers pay him nearly $60 million per season, should they pay him? Or, should they trade him and sign Aaron Rodgers instead?

Granted, Rodgers is 41 and Purdy is 25. Swapping out a 25-year-old quarterback for a 41-year-old quarterback probably isn't the wisest move. But neither is paying a good-not-great quarterback nearly $60 million per season. That's a great way for the 49ers to become the Dolphins or the Jaguars or the Cowboys.

Purdy is not an elite quarterback -- never has been and probably never will be. Rodgers isn't elite anymore, although he is a future Hall of Famer. And he probably would cost the 49ers much less than what Purdy wants.

Rodgers' doesn't seem to be any team's first choice in 2025, for obvious reasons. He's old, he's not mobile and he has a toxic personality -- just ask the Jets and the Packers. But he still can throw a football much better than most NFL quarterbacks, including Purdy.

I'm guessing Rodgers would love to take Purdy's job considering Rodgers grew up in Northern California, went to Cal and should have been drafted by the 49ers in the first place. Instead, they took Alex Smith, who was good, but not nearly as good as Rodgers.

If the 49ers trade Purdy, the locker room probably won't be pleased. At the same time, the older stars might like the idea of playing with a future Hall of Fame quarterback for the first time.

Something to think about.

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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.

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