Remember last week, when it was first reported that the 49ers and quarterback Brock Purdy had agreed to a five-year, $265 million contract? On the heels of that news, there was a loud and angry chorus from near and far, all singing the same three-syllable word:
“O-Ver-Paid.”
Those people look awfully silly now that the details for that contract have been released.
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Purdy is still going to make a tremendous amount of money. He can easily pay off those Toyotas he bought his offensive line last season and can hitch a fishing boat to the back of each one of them. And Purdy’s camp was able to work in some nice job security in the terms of the deal, too. It’s a team-friendly deal, but it’s fair, too.
And like the vast majority of contracts in the NFL, that big, headline number that comes out on Day 1 doesn’t remotely resemble the actual deal.
Purdy isn’t really on a five-year contract. No, he’s effectively on a two-year contract with a two-year team option.
If Purdy is everything the 49ers want him to be, he and the team will likely be back at the negotiating table after the 2026 season.
But there’s flexibility for the Niners in this new deal. If Purdy’s next two seasons are an unmitigated disaster — a la Russell Wilson with the Broncos or Aaron Rodgers with the Jets— the 49ers can cut or trade him after 2026 and take one year of a big dead-cap hit. They’ll be effectively free after that.
Of course, that would be an issue for another Niners head coach and general manager to figure out, because if Purdy’s career trends in that direction — and it would be a massive swerve — neither Kyle Shanahan nor John Lynch will still be employed by San Francisco anymore.
Also making an appearance in this deal: The April 1 guarantee structure the Niners put on the Brandin Aiyuk contract and, before that, the Colin Kaepernick deal. This works for both the Niners (the NFL cuts revenue distribution checks around this time) and Purdy, who avoids year-to-year decisions.
For instance, if Purdy is on the Niners’ roster April 1, 2026, his 2027 salary is guaranteed — hence why they might work a new deal between the 2026 and 2027 seasons.
But the Niners don’t have to do anything. They can stand pat and opt into two years of Purdy (2027, 2028) at a less-than-market rate after the ’26 season. It will cost them $30.8 million and $57.6 million against the salary cap in 2027 and 2028, and leave them with only a roughly $15 million dead-cap hit in 2029 should they decide to move on after that.
For reference, the Niners have a $15 million dead-cap hit for Arik Armstead for this upcoming season. The NFL’s salary cap should be above $350 million by that point, too.
This is an exceptionally reasonable contract for Purdy and the 49ers.
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If the Niners decide to go for the full four years, as written, they’ll pay Purdy almost every cent of the roughly $175 million he’s “guaranteed” in the deal. Yet at the same time, Purdy’s average annual cap hit will be $30.5 million per year.
That’s wide-receiver money, not quarterback money.
Seriously: The 49ers have Deebo Samuel counting for $34.1 million against their books this season. Purdy will go above that number one time — 2028 — on the actionable portion of his current deal.
Yes, Purdy will be paid well (though arguably under the market rate) but the Niners won’t have that kind of money reflecting on the books. That’s good accounting. (It was certainly enough to make my head spin.)
And this deal will never approach $265 million paid or even five years. It’s frankly a laughable sum given the true structure of this deal.
If the Niners’ front office can’t build a quality team around Purdy with this fancy accounting, then they’re simply not fit to run a team. Purdy will be paid less than Yetur Gross-Matos against the cap this season, less than Fred Warner next season, and is slated to make less than both Nick Bosa and Brandin Aiyuk in the 2027.
In all, this contract is anything but an albatross around the neck of the 49ers. It’s crafty, it’s clever, and it’s altogether shockingly unburdensome.
And no matter what happens with Purdy in the years to come, don’t let anyone tell you this contract is something different.
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