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The final question San Francisco 49ers CEO Jed York fielded at this week’s annual league meeting was whether he felt the Brock Purdy contract talks have been productive. “I don’t negotiate contracts,” he said, “but any conversations I’ve had with Brock personally have been great. So I feel good.
And when he’s ready, we’ll sit down and finish it. It shouldn’t be that hard to do.” Advertisement There are a couple of ways to interpret that.
One is that the deal isn’t all that complicated and it will get done quickly. The 49ers agree that Purdy is among the best quarterbacks in the league — York described him as a top-10 passer — and that he’ll be paid as such. The two sides just need to settle on a number.
It ought to be easy. The other way — and probably the correct way — is to emphasize the word “shouldn’t.” Picture two guys struggling to move a couch through a narrow apartment doorway.
They bang the doorframe. The couch gets wedged. They’re not twisting and tilting in unison and they’re going nowhere.
“Just put it down!” one guy finally yells, sweat dripping from his brow. “Let’s hold on and figure this out. This shouldn’t be that hard to do.
” The quotes about Purdy’s deal from the league meeting continued to sound optimistic. “Brock wants to be with us. We want Brock to be with us,” general manager John Lynch said.
“When that’s the case, these things typically get done.” “I think he’s great, and especially when you combine him with Kyle (Shanahan) and you combine him with what we have (on the roster),” York said. “He’s a heck of a quarterback and we want him to be here for a long, long time.
” But they were virtually the same quotes we heard at Lynch and Shanahan’s end-of-season news conference in January and that Lynch gave at the scouting combine in February. Nothing’s changed. The negotiation appears to be at a standstill and the clock is ticking.
The 49ers begin their offseason program on April 22. That’s the de facto beginning of the season for an NFL team, when players who have been recovering and training in other parts of the country reassemble at their team facilities. It’s also the time by which Purdy said he wanted to get the deal done.
“I want to get it done quick,” he said in January . “Just so we can get back for Phase 1, get after it with our receivers and our team. I’m not the kind of guy that wants to have any kind of drama associated with anything.
” Advertisement Shanahan, meanwhile, on Tuesday spoke enthusiastically about the upcoming offseason program, contrasting it with the previous years’ sessions in which the 49ers were still recovering — physically and mentally — from long runs through the playoffs. This year, just about everyone will be fresh, he said. And he’s expecting strong attendance.
“I think we’ll have a hell of a turnout with all of our guys, just (in) talking to ’em,” he said. The 49ers have some leverage in the Purdy negotiations. Lynch, for example, always slides into his answers that Purdy has one more year remaining on his ultra-affordable rookie contract.
He did so at the combine and again Monday. “Does it happen this offseason?” he said of an extension. “I don’t know.
Hopefully, it happens real soon this offseason.” The 49ers control Purdy’s contract situation for the next three seasons. As it stands, he’s under contract for $5.
3 million in 2025 and they could apply the franchise tag the following two seasons. It’s also worth noting that they recently brought in Mac Jones, someone whom Shanahan once thought worthy of the No. 3 pick in the draft.
No, Jones hasn’t played up to that billing — not even close — but Shanahan and the 49ers did help another former first-round quarterback, Sam Darnold, resurrect his sputtering career two years ago. Having Jones as your No. 2 passer gives you a bit more bargaining power than having Brandon Allen in that spot.
“I just loved how he played the position, especially in college,” Shanahan said of Jones. “He got the ball to the right spots, didn’t take sacks, would hang in there and get hit and distribute the ball to his playmakers. I’ve seen him do it in the NFL at a high level.
We’re excited to get him working in our offense.” Purdy, however, has better leverage. First, the 49ers’ recent offseason roster purge was done in anticipation of a hefty, new deal for Purdy.
How do you reconcile saying goodbye to Dre Greenlaw, Talanoa Hufanga, Aaron Banks, Javon Hargrave, Leonard Floyd and Maliek Collins and not have a new contract for Purdy completed? Advertisement Second, the team simply can’t afford to have yet another offseason dominated by a contract dispute. In 2023, it was Nick Bosa’s, which wasn’t resolved until Sept. 7.
Last year, it was Trent Williams’ and Brandon Aiyuk’s, which cast a dark cloud on the entire offseason and then bled into the regular season. Aiyuk, who finished the 2023 season with 1,342 receiving yards, didn’t start practicing until late August and, not coincidentally, averaged 42 yards and zero touchdowns in his first four games. The 49ers seem to be betting that Purdy isn’t Aiyuk, that he very much wants to avoid the drama that marked Aiyuk’s contract dispute, that he feels duty-bound to lead the 49ers in 2025 and that he’ll sign on the dotted line sooner rather than later.
But that’s a big gamble. The first two weeks of the offseason program that begins April 22 are limited to meetings, strength and conditioning, and rehabilitation. It would set an ominous tone but wouldn’t be the end of the world if Purdy’s deal isn’t completed by then.
But what happens if he isn’t there two weeks later when quarterbacks can start throwing to their receivers? Or if he isn’t participating when the 49ers hit the field for their first OTA practice on May 27? Or if the contract’s not done by the mandatory minicamp that starts June 10? Shanahan wants this to be an offseason of energy , of competition, of momentum, of rebirth. That’ll be difficult to attain if his starting quarterback is absent, if he’s watching from the sideline or even if he’s practicing despite an unresolved contract looming over the organization. If that’s the case, it won’t be a spring revival.
It’ll be more of the same. (Photo: Julio Aguilar / Getty Images).
