49ers are handling Brock Purdy negotiations like they’ve never heard of leverage

The San Francisco 49ers' top offseason priority is rather simple: extend Brock Purdy,

For the first three years of his improbable career, Purdy has been on the NFL's best value contract — $3.7 million across four years. The very last pick in the 2022 draft, Purdy quickly went from Mr. Irrelevant to Franchise Quarterback in San Francisco. He has been to the Super Bowl already, and there's reason to believe he has a bright future ahead of him.

That said, the Niners need to thread this needle rather carefully. Purdy has earned the starting gig in San Fran, but has he earned the big-money extension top quarterbacks tend to receive nowadays? Last offseason saw the NFL record for largest contract get broken multiple times over. Dak Prescott is due $89.6 million in 2025.

This past season was quite sobering for Purdy and the Niners, who finished 6-9 in the 15 games he started. Purdy completed 65.9 percent of his passes for 3,864 yards and 20 touchdowns, but he also committed 19 turnovers. The Niners' offense, short on talent after Brandon Aiyuk got hurt and Deebo Samuel fell off a cliff, held up like a wet paper towel. Purdy looked quite mortal after his standout Pro Bowl campaign in 2023.

Purdy's reps are going to ask for a lot of money, but the Niners need to take their own advice from the Aiyuk negotiations and drive a hard bargain. Unfortunately, Jed York and 49ers management are off to a poor start.

49ers give Brock Purdy all the leverage ahead of consequential contract extension talks

Obviously the Niners want to keep Purdy around, but this sort of blind praise is bad for business. The Niners need to establish leverage and put the squeeze on Purdy. That starts with establishing optionality, or at least the perception of optionality, moving forward. San Francisco needs to be floating backup plans and keeping Purdy at arm's length, not preaching to the QB's own choir about how essential he is to the 49ers' success. Even if it's true.

Purdy is a deeply flawed quarterback. He turns it over too often and does not possess the arm talent that sets great quarterbacks apart from merely good quarterbacks. He has benefitted, plainly, from a great setup in San Francisco, taking cues from Kyle Shanahan and throwing to some of the most explosive playmakers in the NFL. When that setup was strained in 2024, Purdy's performance not-so-shockingly cratered.

The Niners don't have better options, aside from a hypothetical reunion with Sam Darnold that will never actually happen. Purdy has won enough to earn the benefit of the doubt to a certain extent. He's not a complete game manager, like his critics will argue. He makes some eye-popping throws and he's quite mobile in and out of the pocket, capable of creating something from nothing when the moment demands it.

Stack Purdy's talent up against the best in the NFL at his position, however, and one struggles to justify what seems like an imminent payday of exorbitant magnitude. The Niners will regret dropping $60 million-plus annually on Purdy's doorstep if that is indeed the going price, especially as this expensive, aging roster continues to crumble around him.