The 49ers’ quick work in getting Brock Purdy, George Kittle and Fred Warner signed to extensions is already having an impact on the locker room.
The 49ers’ speedy and successful negotiations with George Kittle, Brock Purdy and Fred Warner have marked a sharp break from what had become an irritating offseason tradition for the franchise.
Drawn out and — in the cases of Deebo Samuel and Brandon Aiyuk — fractious negotiations with star players over long-term extensions had become the norm. However, with OTA practices starting next week, the 49ers have all their major offseason business done, with All-Pros Kittle and Warner signed to long-term deals and, most importantly, starting quarterback Purdy inked to a five-year extension.
That means San Francisco is in a position to essentially have complete attendance as they go through OTAs and minicamp and, speaking in a press conference on Wednesday, Purdy explained how the 49ers avoiding contract holdouts and getting everyone in the building early is already benefiting the team.
“I feel like, every year, there sort of has been someone that it’s like, man, you’d like to get him done, and it’s gone on pretty late,” Purdy said. “Whether that has affected the locker room or not, I’m not really sure. I don’t want to just pinpoint something.
“But this year, having the guys done, and being able to get back to work, and be around the guys in the locker room, and just build our culture and standard, really, from the ground up, with all the new guys that we have, it’s been pretty cool.
“Everybody’s bought in right now, and we’re excited, obviously, to do more team activities and stuff as we move along the offseason.
“Having the contract done, it’s been a huge blessing for the whole team and organization.”
Whereas the 2024 offseason was defined by the drama of the Aiyuk stand-off, Purdy made a point of emphasizing the lack of bumps in the road as he got the deal he desired.
“There was open communication from the get-go. There was no drama involved,” added Purdy.
“For me, I just had faith that it was going to get done, and that these guys have my back, and that they wanted to get something done relatively quick and smooth and all that. And then, obviously last week, we knew that we were at the number, and we just had to get a couple of things figured out within the language of the contract, and that it was going to be a go.”
The 49ers’ stark change in approach to contracts gives them a long runway to get a team bedding in a lot of new young players on the same page as they aim to successfully bounce back from a 6-11 season and return to contention.
It is crucial the 49ers are quickly back competing to get over the Super Bowl hump given the money they have committed to their veteran core. A return to a winning record in 2025 might help convince them that expedient offseason negotiations should be the way forward in coming years.