What Tua Tagovailoa's Extension Means for 49ers QB Brock Purdy

Now the 49ers can't offer Purdy a penny less than $53 million per season. Offering him $52.9 million per season would be a slap in his face.

Grant Cohn | Jul 26, 2024

Dec 4, 2022; Santa Clara, California, USA; San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy (13) celebrates after throwing a touchdown pass during the second quarter against the Miami Dolphins at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Sergio Estrada-USA TODAY Sports / Sergio Estrada-USA TODAY Sports

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San Francisco 49ers

This is good news for Brock Purdy, but not so much for the 49ers.

The Miami Dolphins just gave Tua Tagovailoa a four-year, $212.4 million extension. That's roughly $53 million per season for a quarterback who objectively isn't as good as Purdy. In addition, the Detroit Lions recently gave a $53 million extension to Jared Goff, who also objectively isn't as good as Purdy.

So now the 49ers can't offer Purdy a penny less than $53 million per season. Offering him $52.9 million per season would be a slap in his face. And by the time he's actually eligible for an extension, his price tag will be even higher.

Tagovailoa isn't the final quarterback who will get an extension before Purdy. Jordan Love also will get an extension soon, and he could become the highest-paid player in the league if the Packers give him $56 million per season.

And then next year, the salary cap almost certainly will increase by 12 to 15 percent. Which means quarterback salaries could increase by 12 to 15 percent as well. So if the 49ers thought Purdy would give them a hometown discount, think again.

I'm not saying Purdy is greedy and will ask for more than he's worth. I do believe he'll want his market value. Why should he take less? He already took less than practically everyone on the team the past two seasons and will do so again this year. The 49ers owe him.

But is he really worth more than $53 million per season to the 49ers? If they couldn't win a Super Bowl with him making $1 million per season, can they really win one when he's making 53 times that amount?

I guess we'll find out.

Published Jul 26, 2024

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.