All 49ers

What Trevor Lawrence's Extension Means for 49ers QB Brock Purdy

This is great news for Brock Purdy, but not for the 49ers.

Grant Cohn

Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence (16) watches the ball after bouncing it off his foot during a break between drills at the organized team activity session Monday, June 3, 2024 at EverBank Stadium's Miller Electric Center in Jacksonville, Fla.
Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence (16) watches the ball after bouncing it off his foot during a break between drills at the organized team activity session Monday, June 3, 2024 at EverBank Stadium's Miller Electric Center in Jacksonville, Fla. / Bob Self/Florida Times-Union / USA TODAY

This is great news for Brock Purdy, but not for the 49ers.

The Jacksonville Jaguars reportedly have signed quarterback Trevor Lawrence to a five-year contract extension worth up to $275 million ($55 million per season), with $142 million fully guaranteed. So that's the going rate for a good-not-great quarterback with a spotty resume.

Last season, Lawrence won 8 games, threw 21 touchdown passes and 14 interceptions and posted a quarterback rating of just 88.5. He was decidedly mediocre in every way. And the Jaguars rewarded him with a contract that makes him the highest-paid player in the NFL along with Joe Burrow, who also earns $55 million per season on average.

Which brings us back to Purdy. He'll be eligible for a contract extension next year, and his resume is objectively better than Lawrence's in every way. Last season, Purdy won 12 games, threw 31 touchdown passes and 11 interceptions, posted a quarterback rating of 113, went to the NFC Championship game for the second season in a row and went to the Super Bowl where he played well. So what's he worth?

If Lawrence is worth $55 million per season, then Purdy is worth no less than $56 million per season. And considering how much the salary cap rises every year, by the time Purdy is eligible for an extension, the going rate for his services could be $60 million per season. That's where the quarterback market is going.

At this point, if the 49ers want to sign Purdy for less than $40 million per season, he'd have to be the most generous person in the NFL. He'd have to sign that deal out of the kindness of his heart. And he won't.

Get ready for the 49ers to make Brock Purdy the highest-paid player in the NFL next year.

Published |Modified
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.

Home/News