All signs point toward the San Francisco 49ers and quarterback Brock Purdy coming to an agreement on a long-term contract extension in the offseason that makes Purdy one of the highest-paid QBs in the NFL.
While that outcome appears to be a foregone conclusion, nothing is set in stone just yet and the potential for an impasse between the two sides where an extension isn’t done is on the table until Purdy puts quill pen to paper.
So, what happens if the worst-case scenario plays out and the 49ers find themselves in another contract spat with a player they view as a long-term piece of their new core?
Brock Purdy is still under contract
It’s worth noting that Purdy is still under contract for the 2025 season. It would be the fourth and final year of the four-year rookie contract he signed after being drafted with the last overall pick in the 2022 NFL draft.
If the two sides can’t agree on a deal, San Francisco could conceivably just let him play out the final year of that contract and push the extension talks into 2026.
This isn’t a route Purdy and his camp are likely going to want to go, particularly since the compensation on his rookie deal was only $3,737,012 across four seasons per Over the Cap. This is where San Francisco’s leverage lies.
What if he plays out the 2025 season without a new deal?
The 49ers would have the ability to use the franchise tag on Purdy if the two sides wind up being irreconcilably far apart on money. In that scenario he’d play the 2025 season on his rookie deal and then be on a one-year, fully-guaranteed contract that would come in somewhere north of $40 million. The franchise tag number for a QB in the 2025 season, for example, is $41,325,000. That dollar amount would go up in 2026.
A franchise tag wouldn’t necessarily keep Purdy from signing an extension at that point. Some teams use those tags just to ensure the player doesn’t bolt in free agency.
Why would the 49ers not do an extension now?
They certainly want to. General manager John Lynch and Kyle Shanahan both made that clear in their end-of-season press conference.
There may be some conflicts about Purdy’s money though after he struggled in 2024 without some of his top playmakers. It’s conceivable Purdy’s side will want a deal at the top of the market while the 49ers are wanting to give him somewhere closer to top-10ish money.
San Francisco has to think about its team-building as a whole and if they believe they can spend top QB money on other players so they can drop a new QB into a great situation, they could take that risk.
Would Purdy still play in SF then?
Maybe! It would depend on the nature of the contract negotiations, but it’s hard to believe a QB who hit the ground running as fast as he did would be cool with the team he helped guide to the Super Bowl low-balling him while every other QB gets paid.
They could either let him walk after the 2025 season, or they could trade him before the season if they’re that confident they can just find a QB capable of winning a Super Bowl.
Okay, but this all seems pretty unrealistic.
It is! This is an absolute disaster scenario that probably won’t play out. The 49ers front office and coaching staff believe Purdy is their franchise QB and that means paying him. They’ve had time to plan for paying him and the likelihood they’re so far apart on money that they reach the point of Purdy playing out his rookie contract is exceedingly slim.
The 49ers do have options if contract talks go sideways, but the overwhelming odds are Purdy has a giant new contract at some point before the 2025 season kicks off.