49ers general manager John Lynch said that the team has started negotiating a long-term extension with Brock Purdy, per The Athletic’s Matt Barrows.
“We want Brock to be our quarterback as long as we’re here,” said Lynch at the Combine.
Purdy is entering the final year of his contract as one of the best stories in the NFL in recent history. He was the last pick in the 2022 NFL draft and shocked the league by taking over the 49ers’ starting quarterback job in as a rookie.
San Francisco won his first seven starts – five in the regular season and two in the playoffs – before losing in the NFC Championship Game, and Purdy finished third in Offensive Rookie of the Year voting. In 2023, Purdy led the league with a 113.0 passer rating on his way to a Pro Bowl selection and a fourth-place finish in MVP voting. His play took a step back in 2024, though most of his supporting cast dealt with injuries throughout the season.
Purdy has done all of that on one of the cheapest contracts in the NFL, earning just $2.6MM over the last three seasons, per OverTheCap. Player performance escalators will allow him to double that in 2024 with a $5.2MM base salary, which is still far below the market rate for a starting quarterback. He could be looking for upwards of $50MM per year on an extension to join the upper echelon of quarterback contracts.
The 49ers have repeatedly stated their intention to secure Purdy as their long-term signal-caller, though previous reports indicate that they may not be willing to reset the market for the former Mr. Irrelevant.
“He’s played really well. We know that,” continued Lynch (via ESPN’s Nick Wagoner). “We have every intention of making him our guy.”
Lynch also said that the team has discussed an extension with tight end George Kittle, per Wagoner. Kittle is entering the final season of his contract with a $22MM cap hit. The 49ers have plenty of cap space, so extending Kittle to free up money isn’t an immediate priority, but the team would like to keep him past 2025 — his age-32 season.
Kittle is putting together a Hall of Fame resume, becoming one of the best all-around tight ends in modern NFL history. His five-year, $75MM extension set the market in 2020, and the position has not moved far past that by 2025. T.J. Hockenson had the bar only at $16.5MM per year exiting the 2023 season, and the Chiefs’ raise for Travis Kelce (up to $17.13MM AAV) illustrates how little growth the TE market has made — especially when compared to the booming WR landscape. Kittle has stayed mostly healthy over his second contract as well, putting himself in good position to cash in on a big-ticket third contract as well.