49ers motivated to get Purdy’s deal done quickly​on January 8, 2025 at 9:20 pm

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — With their season over, the San Francisco 49ers and quarterback Brock Purdy are, for the first time in his young career, eligible to discuss a lucrative long-term contract extension.

And while those talks haven’t begun just yet, Niners general manager John Lynch, coach Kyle Shanahan and Purdy have made it clear that they intend to reach an agreement with the hope that it will be done sooner than later.

“I think what we know about Brock is that he’s our guy,” Lynch said Wednesday. “We have interest in Brock being around here for a long, long time. He’s done so much for our organization; he’s won big games and had a little tougher task as we all did this year with some of the things that happened throughout the course of the year. We just never could string games where we were all together and through that he continued to lead, he continued to play at a high level, so we have every interest in him being around.

“We’ll have some time here in the coming weeks to sit together and put our whole plan together. That’s obviously a priority, that position and we’ll give it that attention.”

“I plan on being with Brock here the whole time I’m here. Brock’s been a stud. He’s a guy I’ve got a lot of confidence in just as a human, but it starts with what he’s done on the field these last two and a half years. We’re capable of winning the Super Bowl with him. He just almost did, and I know he’s capable of getting the Niners a Super Bowl in the future.”

Kyle Shanahan, on Brock Purdy

As the former last pick in the 2022 NFL draft, Purdy played his first three years on one of the cheapest contracts in the NFL, a four-year rookie deal worth an average annual value of $934,253. He has one year left on that pact and is slated to count $1.119 million against the cap in 2025.

That number is all but certain to rise this offseason as the Niners are prepared to pay him in line with some of the top-paid passers in the league, though it remains to be seen just how high they’re willing to go. The Dallas Cowboys‘ Dak Prescott is the current highest-paid quarterback in terms of average annual value at $60 million per season.

On Monday, Purdy said he’s “not really sure” if topping that number is of importance to him but he did make it clear that he wants to get something done as fast as possible so he can be in the fold when the Niners begin organized team activities in April.

“More than anything for me, I want to be able to handle business the right way and do it in a respectable manner and get back to my team as fast as I can to get going,” Purdy said. “That’s my mindset, my focus. And obviously I want to help the team across the board with all the other guys who need to get their deals done but everybody will handle it the right way and how they need to.”

Following a 2023 campaign in which he earned Pro Bowl honors and finished fourth in Most Valuable Player voting, Purdy’s statistical production dipped in 2024 as injuries ravaged his supporting cast. Despite missing running back Christian McCaffrey (Achilles, knee) and receiver Brandon Aiyuk (knee) for most of the season and playing without left tackle Trent Williams, tight end George Kittle and receiver Deebo Samuel for other, shorter stretches, Purdy finished seventh in the NFL in QBR (68.0), 10th in passing yards (3,864) and third in yards per attempt (8.5) in his 15 games.

But Purdy also struggled in a handful of bad weather games and was unable to lead fourth-quarter comebacks in some close and late situations as the Niners tumbled to 6-11. His 1.7 touchdowns to interception ratio was tied for 23rd in the NFL and a significant drop off from the 2.8 he posted in 2023.

Still, Shanahan’s belief in Purdy only increased as he watched Purdy grow into a larger leadership role and continue battling despite the difficult situation around him.

“Brock is the leader of our team,” Shanahan said. “I’ve loved these three years with Brock. I plan on being with Brock here the whole time I’m here. Brock’s been a stud. He’s a guy I’ve got a lot of confidence in just as a human, but it starts with what he’s done on the field these last two and a half years. We’re capable of winning the Super Bowl with him. He just almost did, and I know he’s capable of getting the Niners a Super Bowl in the future.”

Lynch and Shanahan spent the past couple of days doing exit meetings and going through player and coaching staff evaluations, which is why any Purdy extension talks have yet to begin in earnest.

While the 49ers have a history of allowing important contract talks to linger deep into August and even September as they did with Aiyuk and Williams last offseason, the approach at quarterback figures to be a bit different.

For one, Purdy’s contract will involve such a significant raise that it will play a role in how much money the team is able to spend to add to the roster and/or keeping some of its current players. It would behoove the Niners to get a deal done quickly as other top quarterbacks could renegotiate or sign contracts that could alter the market. Also, the 49ers would prefer not to have any spring or training camp practice time without the starting quarterback.

How fast might a deal get done? Well, Shanahan and Lynch do have at least some experience negotiating with a quarterback signing a market-setting deal. In 2018, quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo signed a five-year, $137.5 million deal on Feb. 8.

That negotiation was a bit different because Garoppolo was going to become a free agent in March while Purdy is under contract but it’s instructive in the urgency all sides feel to get something done.

“I want to be in San Francisco and play my football career here,” Purdy said. “I love it here and I want to do whatever it takes to be here … I’m not really sure what it all is going to look like or entail but I know that I’m the guy for this organization and that I can do what it takes to help lead us where we want to go.”