All 49ers

One Stat that Could Make the 49ers Reluctant to Pay Brock Purdy

Technically, the 49ers could offer Brock Purdy a contract extension today. But it doesn't seem they've made an offer yet.
Grant Cohn|
Dec 30, 2024; Santa Clara, California, USA; San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy (13) during the game against the Detroit Lions at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Sergio Estrada-Imagn Images
Dec 30, 2024; Santa Clara, California, USA; San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy (13) during the game against the Detroit Lions at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Sergio Estrada-Imagn Images | Sergio Estrada-Imagn Images

In this story:

San Francisco 49ers

Technically, the 49ers could offer Brock Purdy a contract extension today. But it doesn't seem they've made an offer yet.

Purdy is a good quarterback -- the 49ers have to figure out just how good he is and how much he's worth to the franchise. The going rate for a franchise quarterback in today's NFL starts at $60 million per season. Is Purdy truly worth that much?

We know Purdy has had lots of success while surrounded by top-end talent. We know he's a playmaker who can scramble and improvise. We know he has the mentality of a gunslinger. And we like these things about him.

When the 49ers don't need Purdy to carry the team, he's great. But when their defense falls off and they need him to throw lots of passes and score lots of points, he struggles.

In three seasons in the NFL, here are Purdy's numbers when he throws at least 30 passes in a game (playoffs included): 27 touchdown passes, 22 interceptions, 89.7 passer rating, 8 wins, 11 losses.

For Purdy to be successful, he needs a killer running back and an elite defense so he can be a complimentary player and throw fewer than 30 passes per game. Jordan Love is a similar quarterback. He's a playmaker with a gunslinger mentality but the Packers don't want him to throw too many passes because he will throw the game away.

That's not a franchise quarterback.

If a quarterback needs to throw fewer than 30 passes per game to be successful, he should be a major rushing threat, too. And Purdy isn't a major rushing threat. He's a solid scrambler who gets injured when he runs too much. There's a reason Kyle Shanahan almost never calls a zone-read for him.

So will Purdy get the big bucks? Probably, yes. Love certainly did, and the Packers probably regret that deal already. I predict the 49ers will regret paying Purdy, too.

Download and follow The Cohn Zohn Podcast.

Published
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.

Share on XFollow grantcohn
Home/News