Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer walked through some fine details regarding 49ers QB Brock Purdy and his contract extension
Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer walked through the process of how the San Francisco 49ers and Brock Purdy reached an extension.
In a detailed article, Breer points out that Purdy and his agent, Kyle Strongin, were initially prepared to strike a deal on the first day of training camp. History suggested that’s when the Niners did their deals.
According to Breer, the first meeting helped lay the groundwork for the extension, where the Niners made it clear that they weren’t interested in dishing out a record-breaking contract. The second meeting took place at the NFL Combine in Indianapolis, where it was established that Purdy’s camp said they weren’t doing a deal without “strong cashflow, structure and guarantees,” all things that would provide stability for Purdy.
It was a good sign that Purdy showed up to the offseason program. Breer pointed out how Strongin had previously worked with San Francisco’s cap experts Paraag Marathe and Brian Hampton in 2008 and ‘09 when Strongin was a scouting assistant, hinting that that was one of the reasons both sides were able to continue to push through.
Here are the key points Breer highlighted:
The contract has $165.05 million in new money over the first three new years, which edged out a metric Jared Goff’s deal in Detroit hit last year. That means he’ll get $170.14 million over the first four years of the contract (2025 to ’28). Goff’s deal was an important comparison because both sides saw it as one that didn’t break records, but did well by the player in many different ways.
• He gets $215 million in new money over the first four new years, which means he’ll make $220.3 million over the first five years of the contract.
• That leaves $50 million in 2030, the final year of the six-year, $270.346 million contract, which essentially tells you this isn’t a heavily back-loaded deal with a bloated number at the end to make it look prettier—something Purdy’s camp wanted to avoid. By comparison, he’ll make $55.05 million in ’28 and $49.95 million in ’29.
• Purdy gets 62% of his money in the first three years, which tops the cashflow in most of the richer quarterback contracts done.
• The $181 million injury guarantee that was floated out there is important, but the more relevant number is $176 million, the amount that’s either fully guaranteed at signing, or vests as fully guaranteed a year ahead of time (which essentially would deliver a heavy, heavy financial penalty to the team for walking away early).
Purdy also got a no-trade clause, which was off the table initially, and a first for the Niners.
Being able to say you were the “first” to accomplish something for a storied franchise like the 49ers is a nice feather in the cap for Purdy.
During the first five years of the contract, Purdy’s will make just over $44 million annually—about $9 million short of the initial number reported. That’s a great deal for the 49ers and should allow them the flexibility to continue to build around Brock.
It works for Purdy because he gets the majority of his cash up front, and it comes with an injury guarantee. When we found out that Purdy had a no-trade clause, I speculated whether the team would give themselves an out toward the end of Brock’s contract. The guarantees noted above signals that isn’t the case, meaning Purdy is here to stay for the duration of the decade.
Now, that is security.