For a mailbag published on Wednesday, Tim Kawakami of The Athletic suggested that San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy could eventually sign a deal similar to the five-year contract extension that Philadelphia Eagles signal-caller Jalen Hurts inked last spring.
"In April 2023, just months after that Super Bowl trip, Hurts signed a five-year, $255M contract — $51M per year, but that average is puffed up by some tacked-on salaries at the back end that aren’t fully guaranteed and will be either wiped away or replaced by a new deal," Kawakami explained. "In real terms, Hurts got $179.3M guaranteed over four years, an average of $44.8M. That’s the number I’d circle for Purdy and the 49ers when the negotiations start next year."
Purdy isn't eligible for an extension until after the 2024 season.
Hurts and Purdy already have multiple things in common regarding their careers. Hurts became a Most Valuable Player finalist en route to guiding the 2022 Eagles to a Super Bowl berth.
Purdy began this past February as an MVP candidate who helped the 49ers complete a trip to Super Bowl LVIII. Neither quarterback won those championship games but did enough to have their teams in winning positions at different points in those contests.
Much continues to be made this spring about how the 49ers paying Purdy next offseason will cost the club star players due to salary-cap restrictions. Kawakami mentioned that the Eagles provided somewhat of a template for how to handle cap hits attached to a quarterback's extension.
"Hurts' cap hits were kept low early in the deal with some fancy (collective bargaining agreement) tricks — he had a $6.1M cap hit last year and is at $13.6M this year," Kawakami added. "But the Eagles’ deal with Hurts underlines two things: 1) the Eagles were banking on Hurts’ long-term staying power; 2) Hurts knew that his deal would be dwarfed almost instantly by (Cincinnati Bengals star Joe Burrow) and others and didn’t care about the QB salary rankings."
Per Pro Football Reference, Purdy ended his first full regular season as an NFL QB1 leading the league among qualified players with a 72.8 adjusted QBR, a 113.0 passer rating and 9.6 yards gained per pass attempt.
If he improves upon those numbers this coming campaign as some believe he will, he realistically could wait and look to reset the quarterback market as late as September 2025.
