The San Francisco 49ers have had a cheat code at quarterback for the last two years, but they’re about to lose out on its privileges.
Brock Purdy, who emerged as the 49ers’ starter at the tail end of the 2022 season, has been fantastic in his brief NFL career. And because he was the very last pick in that year’s draft, he kade roughly $1 million in each of the last two seasons while putting up some of the best passing stats in the league.
This offseason, though, Purdy is eligible for an extension. While he’s still under contract for one more year, the 49ers likely want to take care of him now rather than letting him play out the season wondering if he has a future in San Francisco.
However, the 49ers also went 6-11 this season, so there are lots of other roster improvements they’d love to make. According to an NFL insider, the projected extension for Purdy will likely take them out of the running for a high-profile trade target.
On Thursday, ESPN’s Bill Barnwell listed the 49ers as unlikely, but plausible suitors for Cleveland Browns edge-rusher Myles Garrett, because San Francisco would have trouble fitting the final two seasons of his lucrative contract into their budget.
“Could the 49ers have done this while Brock Purdy was on a rookie deal? Yes. We’ve seen them get aggressive in trading for potential Hall of Fame talent, making deals for Christian McCaffrey and Trent Williams,” Barnwell wrote.
“Purdy is about to get a massive raise, though, and that limits a lot of San Francisco’s flexibility… Still, they have also shown that if they truly believe they can add a transcendent player, they’ll do whatever they can to make it work.”
Garrett signed a five-year, $125 million deal with the Browns before the 2022 season. That deal included a $21 million signing bonus, so his cap hit is $19.7 million in 2025 and $20.3 million in 2026.
It’s not a terrible deal for a player of his caliber, but the likelihood that the 49ers could assume the total value of the deal while still increasing Purdy’s salary by $40 million or more seems slim.
And that’s before factoring in what San Francisco would have to give up in the trade (presumably, at least their first-round pick in the upcoming draft).
More NFL: ESPN insider reveals how Cowboys could trade for future Hall of Famer
