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What 49ers Quarterback Brock Purdy Needs to be Successful

Technically, the 49ers can extend his contract today

Grant Cohn

Dec 30, 2024; Santa Clara, California, USA; San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy (13) during the game against the Detroit Lions at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Sergio Estrada-Imagn Images
Dec 30, 2024; Santa Clara, California, USA; San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy (13) during the game against the Detroit Lions at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Sergio Estrada-Imagn Images / Sergio Estrada-Imagn Images
In this story:

The 49ers are on the verge of committing themselves long-term to Brock Purdy. So what does he need to be successful?

Technically, the 49ers can extend his contract today. And most likely, they will make him one of the highest-paid players in the NFL. So what else should they invest in while he's taking up so much salary cap space? They can't invest heavily in everything.

Conventional wisdom says the 49ers should invest in their offensive line. Give Purdy more time to throw and we'll see the best version of him -- that's the logic. And that argument seems to hold water.

But if the 49ers invest in their offensive line, that means they expect Purdy to win shootouts because their defense won't be elite. And the 49ers' win-loss record is just 5-10 in the regular season when Purdy throws at least 30 passes.

When Purdy throws fewer than 30 passes, they're 18-3. So for him to be successful, he needs a great defense that can shorten the game and close it out. He throws too many interceptions, especially in the second half of close games, to win shootouts against good quarterbacks.

Which means the 49ers probably shouldn't make Purdy one of the highest-paid players in the league. Because lots of quarterbacks can be successful and win games on a team that has a great defense. Jimmy Garoppolo was one of them. But he never was more than a complementary piece on the 49ers no matter how much they paid him. He wasn't The Guy.

Neither is Purdy.

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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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