16-05-2025
Brock Purdy, 49ers agree to 5-year contract extension: Sources
Brock Purdy has gone from Mr. Irrelevant to Mr. Moneybags.
Purdy and the San Francisco 49ers on Friday agreed to terms on a five-year, $265 million contract extension that makes him the wealthiest player in franchise history, league sources told to The Athletic.
For perspective, the 49ers gave their former quarterback, Jimmy Garoppolo, a five-year, $137.5 million deal in 2018 that briefly made Garoppolo the highest paid player in the NFL. The timing of Purdy's extension also stands in stark contrast with recent big-money deals the 49ers made with top players like Brandon Aiyuk and Trent Williams — deals that weren't completed until just before Week 1 and bled into the 2024 regular season. Purdy can now lead the 49ers through its offseason program without the contract issue looming over him and the team
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The 49ers acquired Purdy, 25, with the last pick in the 2022 draft – No. 262 overall, which dubbed him 'Mr. Irrelevant' – with the thought he might have some value as a backup quarterback. At the time, the roster included Garoppolo, Trey Lance, whom the team drafted No. 3 overall a year earlier, and Nate Sudfeld, a free-agent pick everyone expected would be the top backup that season.
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By the end of training camp, the fast-starting Purdy had already passed Sudfeld on the depth chart. And following injuries to Lance and Garoppolo, Purdy got his first extensive action early in a Week 13 against the Miami Dolphins. Garoppolo had been playing well at the time, the offensive was humming and the 49ers were on a four-game winning streak.
When Garoppolo left the field in the first quarter with a serious ankle injury, Kyle Shanahan and the 49ers worried that the season was is peril. However, the offense didn't skip a beat with a rookie at the helm. Against a blitz-heavy defense, Purdy completed 68 percent of his passes, threw for two touchdowns and the 49ers beat the Dolphins 33-17. It was the start of a three-game stretch that convinced Shanahan that not only could the 49ers get to the playoffs under Purdy but that he may just be the quarterback the head coach had been seeking since arriving in San Francisco in 2017.
Purdy was even better in his first-ever start the following week, out-dueling Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady and throwing two touchdowns and running for another by halftime. He suffered broken ribs while diving for a first down in the Buccaneers game, an injury that put his next start — on Thursday night in Seattle — in jeopardy. Purdy didn't attempt a single pass during the abbreviated week of practice and quickly shut down his pre-game warm-up due to the searing pain in his left side. Shanahan thought he would have to tap just-signed Josh Johnson for the nationally televised game and started changing the scripted plays.
'Brock goes to throw a ball and it's, 'Oh, s—!'' Shanahan recalled. 'And then we go into the locker room where we have 15 minutes. I start looking at my openers. And no one's around, and I start changing the plays. Because I realize that Brock's not going to be able to do it.'
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Purdy, however, took a pain blocker, started feeling better and then efficiently guided the 49ers to a 21-13 win that assured them the NFC West title. The toughness and dependability Purdy showed in the loud, hostile stadium also won over his teammates and the coaching staff.
'To go out and perform the way that he did under all those stressors and all the unknowns — that was really eye-opening to me,' quarterbacks coach Brian Griese said. 'I think the rest of the offense — and really the entire roster — kind of resonated around him that night, and it certainly helped him as the rest of the season went on, too. Because now the guys in the locker room know exactly what they're getting in him.'
In the 2023 season — his first full season as the starter — Purdy helped guide the 49ers to another NFC West title and a trip to Super Bowl LVIII. Following a season that saw him lead the league in quarterback rating (113.0), rank third in touchdown passes (31) and fifth in passing yards (4,280), Purdy finished fourth in MVP voting.
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That said, Purdy is not without flaws.
While he's missed just two starts due to injury in two and a half seasons, he's suffered an assortment of injuries along the way, including to his ribs, head (concussion) and shoulder. An elbow injury in January 2023 knocked him out of the NFC Championship Game against the Philadelphia Eagles and took most of the following offseason to heal.
Meanwhile, the lack of size and arm strength that caused him to fall to the end of the seventh round have been problematic at times, especially in rain or snow games in which his passer rating — a strong 110.7 in good weather — plummets to 55.9. His interception rate, which already is on the high side among starting quarterbacks, inched up during a difficult 2024 season.
Still, Purdy also dealt with major obstacles during the recent season, especially the losses of No. 1 receiver Aiyuk in Week 7 to a torn ACL and MCL and running back Christian McCaffrey to Achilles and knee injuries. McCaffrey appeared in only four games and said he only started to feel like himself in his final contest, against Buffalo, in which he injured his knee in the second quarter.
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For some, Purdy's 2024 performance — he finished 10th in the NFL with 3,864 passing yards despite missing two starts — was more of an achievement than a black mark on his resume.
'I've loved these three years with Brock,' Shanahan said in January. 'He's a guy I've got a lot of confidence in just as a human, but it starts with what he's done in the field these last two and a half years and capable of winning a Super Bowl with him. We just almost did. And I know he is capable of getting the Niners a Super Bowl in the future.'
