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Nick Wagoner
SANTA CLARA, Calif. — From the moment Brock Purdy stepped in as their starter in 2022, the San Francisco 49ers have told anyone who would listen that he is the quarterback of not only their present but also their future.
On Friday, the Niners put significant action behind those words as they agreed to a five-year, $265 million deal that includes $181 million in overall guaranteed money with Purdy, sources told ESPN’s Adam Schefter.
It’s a massive pay raise for Purdy, known as Mr. Irrelevant for being the last pick in the 2022 NFL draft.
He earned $2.6 million total over his first three NFL seasons, making him the NFL’s 76th-highest-paid QB over that span (2022-24), according to Roster Management System. His new contract has an average salary of $53 million, meaning he will get paid more per week under his new deal ($2.9 million) than he did over the first three years of his career combined.
At the league meeting in Florida, general manager John Lynch made it clear that he believed a deal was in the offing.
“I think we’re going to get the deal done,” Lynch said March 31. “That’s what I believe. We’ll just leave it at that.”
From there, Purdy reported for the start of the offseason program in April, a sign that things were trending toward a deal. The week of the NFL draft last month, Lynch said there were “substantive talks” that had things going in a “good direction.”
Finally, it all came together Friday.
Perhaps that should be no surprise, though, given the 49ers’ belief in Purdy. A few days after a disappointing 6-11 season that saw Purdy’s production dip from his Pro Bowl level in 2023, Lynch and coach Kyle Shanahan said they wanted Purdy around for the long haul.
“Brock is the leader of our team,” Shanahan said Jan. 8. “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 in the field these last two and a half years and [we’re] 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.”
As the Niners cleaned out the locker room after the 2024 season, Purdy left no doubt that he wanted to stick around, too, but also repeatedly pointed out his desire to get something done sooner than later.
In recent years, the 49ers have had drawn-out, more contentious discussions with the likes of defensive end Nick Bosa, receiver Brandon Aiyuk and left tackle Trent Williams. Those negotiations all dragged deep into training camp and kept that trio away from the team for most of the offseason program. Because Purdy plays quarterback, there seemed to be plenty of urgency on both sides to find common ground long before the late-summer deals of recent years.
“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 Jan. 6. “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.”
As it turned out, that’s exactly what the Niners and Purdy were able to do in a negotiation that more closely resembled the contract extension San Francisco worked out with quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo in 2018. That year, the 49ers signed Garoppolo to a five-year, $137.5 million deal on Feb. 8. At the time, it made Garoppolo the highest-paid player in the league. Because Garoppolo was set to be an unrestricted free agent and Purdy still had a year left on his rookie deal, the Purdy deal didn’t get done as quickly as the Garoppolo one, but it still happened long before other big San Francisco contract extensions.
Purdy is coming off a 2024 season in which he was often without key members of his supporting cast. Running back Christian McCaffrey (Achilles, knee), Aiyuk (knee), Williams (ankle), tight end George Kittle (hamstring) and receiver Deebo Samuel (calf, illness, ribs) all missed varying amounts of time.
In 2024, 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. Purdy also struggled in a handful of bad-weather games and was unable to lead fourth-quarter comebacks in some close and late situations. His 1.7 touchdown-to-interception ratio was tied for 23rd and was a dip from the 2.8 he had in 2023.
Still, the Niners’ belief in Purdy never wavered, in large part because of his body of work. He took over as the starter for an injured Garoppolo in Week 13 of 2022, and the Niners are 27-15 in games he has started, including playoffs. In that time, Purdy ranks fourth among all quarterbacks in QBR (70.2), third in passing yards (9,452), first in yards per attempt (8.9) and seventh in touchdown passes (64). With his contract situation settled, Purdy can turn his attention to helping the Niners get back to contending after a down season.
“I want to be in San Francisco and play my football career here,” Purdy said. “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.”
The 49ers also were busy on the special teams front Friday, reaching a one-year deal with veteran kicker Greg Joseph, his agency said.
After last month’s draft, the team said it planned to add a veteran to compete with incumbent Jake Moody. Moody, a third-round pick in 2023, ranked 35th in the NFL in field goal percentage among kickers with at least 10 attempts last season. He was 11-of-20 after returning from a high ankle sprain in Week 10.
