We know the 49ers want to keep Brock Purdy. We don’t know how much money they intend to offer him.
Purdy is coming off a down season. He lost a whopping nine games and threw 10 second-half interceptions — second most in the NFL. He doesn’t have much leverage in his upcoming contract extension negotiations.
“When it comes to Brock Purdy, I would pay him nowhere near market money,” NBC Sports analyst Chris Simms said recently. “Nowhere near. Tua Tagovalioa is the perfect example. No one in football was going to give Tua $55 million per year. Nobody. The Miami Dolphins negotiated against themselves and put themselves in trouble. You can’t have the highest-paid player on your football team be one of the biggest problems on your football team in a big game. Purdy is a good quarterback, certainly. But I think a lot of quarterbacks could go into San Francisco and look pretty good. He’s what, a top-20-ish quarterback in football? If I’m on the 49ers, I’m offering $30 million per year. I’m offering $25 million. I’m saying, ‘Go ahead, tell me who else out there is going to make you the starting quarterback somewhere. Baker Mayfield is making $30 million per season. You’re not even close to as good as Baker Mayfield. Sorry.’ At some point, one of these teams is going to have to say, ‘Just because he’s our quarterback doesn’t mean we have to make him one of the five highest-paid guys in all of football.’ That’s insane. It’s ruining teams. There’s a short list of guys who belong in that category. They better be careful with the Purdy contract.”
Simms is 100-percent correct. The Dolphins paid Tua Tagovailoa millions and millions of dollars more than any other team would have, and now that Tyreek Hill is getting old, they’re not good. Same thing is happening to the 49ers. Without Christian McCaffrey playing like the Offensive Player of the Year, Purdy struggled, particularly at the end of close games. He cost the 49ers multiple wins with awful interceptions.
The 49ers should take Simms’ advice.
