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The 49ers Can Release Brock Purdy After 2026

The pressure is on.
Grant Cohn|
Sep 15, 2024; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy (13) wipes off with a towel during a timeout during the second quarter against the Minnesota Vikings U.S. Bank Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeffrey Becker-Imagn Images
Sep 15, 2024; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy (13) wipes off with a towel during a timeout during the second quarter against the Minnesota Vikings U.S. Bank Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeffrey Becker-Imagn Images | Jeffrey Becker-Imagn Images

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San Francisco 49ers

The 49ers gave Brock Purdy a five-year, $265 million extension. But in reality, it's a two-year deal worth $115 million which the 49ers can extend in 2027 if they want to pay him more than $55 million in 2028.

Let me explain.

In 2025, the 49ers will pay Purdy $41.1 million -- $40 million will be a signing bonus and $1.1 million will be his base salary.

Technically, the 49ers could release Purdy after 2025, but they still would have to pay him $47 million guaranteed in 2026 and nearly $12 million guaranteed for 2027. Which means they won't cut Purdy in 2026, because they won't pay him to do nothing for two years.

So when April 1, 2026 rolls around and Purdy is still on the roster, an additional $15 million option bonus will be guaranteed in 2027. Which means he will get $115 million even if the 49ers release him in 2027.

And there's a real chance the 49ers will release Purdy in 2027. Because if they don't release him by April 1, 2027, more than $55 million will become fully guaranteed for Purdy in 2028. In addition, his salary cap number will jump to $57.62 million in 2028.

That means the 49ers will have to decide after the 2026 season if Purdy is good enough to merit another massive raise in 2028. He has the next two seasons to prove he truly is a franchise quarterback, not a high-level bridge.

The pressure is on.

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Grant Cohn
GRANT COHN

Grant Cohn has covered the San Francisco 49ers daily since 2011. He spent the first nine years of his career with the Santa Rosa Press Democrat where he wrote the Inside the 49ers blog and covered famous coaches and athletes such as Jim Harbaugh, Colin Kaepernick and Patrick Willis. In 2012, Inside the 49ers won Sports Blog of the Year from the Peninsula Press Club. In 2020, Cohn joined FanNation and began writing All49ers. In addition, he created a YouTube channel which has become the go-to place on YouTube to consume 49ers content. Cohn's channel typically generates roughly 3.5 million viewers per month, while the 49ers' official YouTube channel generates roughly 1.5 million viewers per month. Cohn live streams almost every day and posts videos hourly during the football season. Cohn is committed to asking the questions that 49ers fans want answered, and providing the most honest and interactive coverage in the country. His loyalty is to the reader and the viewer, not the team or any player or coach. Cohn is a new-age multimedia journalist with an old-school mentality, because his father is Lowell Cohn, the legendary sports columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle from 1979 to 1993. The two have a live podcast every Tuesday. Grant Cohn grew up in Oakland and studied English Literature at UCLA from 2006 to 2010. He currently lives in Oakland with his wife.

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