The Athletic Says the 49ers Could Pay Brock Purdy $65 Million Per Year

It seems like the 49ers have made up their minds about Brock Purdy.

After 35 career starts, Purdy seemingly has convinced them that he's their franchise quarterback despite a statistical regression this season and a 4-4 record. Still, some people such as The Athletic's Matt Barrows think Purdy is playing some of the best football of his career, considering he's playing without Christian McCaffrey, who was the best player on last season's team.

'If Purdy plays the second half of the season like he played the first, he will get whatever the going rate for a top-tier quarterback is at that moment," Barrows writes.

And that going rate could be $65 million per season once the salary cap increases as it's expected to.

Purdy is a very good quarterback, but paying him $65 million would be a mistake when Patrick Mahomes gets paid $45 million per season. The 49ers can't beat the Chiefs while paying Purdy 1/45th of Mahomes' salary, so how can they beat Kansas City if they're paying Purdy $20 million more per season than the Chiefs pay Mahomes?

Instead of paying Purdy $65 million per season, they could let him play out the fourth and final season of his rookie contract and then franchise tag him in 2026 and 2027. They have options. They don't have to be like the Cowboys who paid Dak Prescott $60 million per season. Prescott is good, but not nearly that good.

I have a feeling the 49ers will offer Purdy more like $50 million per season -- slightly below market rate for a franchise quarterback. And if he balks at it, they always can trade for Kirk Cousins, who gets paid $45 million per season.