ESPN’s Adam Schefter believes Brock Purdy’s extension will be impacted by the 49ers “cap issues.”
The Brock Purdy discourse is already exhausting for most, and free agency has yet to begin. The San Francisco 49ers don’t have to do anything. They hold all of the cards. Purdy is under contract for another year.
Now, that would be risky, and Purdy could have a career year, making the franchise tag inevitable as he’d price himself out of whatever original offer was made this offseason. The 49ers can handle Purdy’s contract in several ways, and neither is wrong.
ESPN’s Adam Schefter chimed in with the latest updates regarding Purdy’s potential extension Tuesday on The Pat McAfee Show:
“So if you don’t get a deal done with Brock Purdy, and you’re the Niners, and again, this would not be what Brock Purdy would want, I would imagine. It’s not what his agent would want. He would play for $5 million this year, $41 million next year, $51 million the year after. You’re talking about $97-plus million over the next three years, which, for most people, would be incredible money. But not for a quarterback who’s waiting to get paid.”
The projected franchise tag for a quarterback in 2026 is $51 million, which Schefter refers to. He continued, talking about the 49ers cap situation and how that may impact Purdy’s deal:
“So the Niners have a bit of a cap issue, cash issue, and so they can’t put Brock Purdy necessarily where he might want to be. They can go to a certain level they’d want to pay him, but it’s not going to be, I would imagine, quite as high as most people think.
And then you’ll have a chance to hit free agency in four years. You’ll be a true free agent. And at that point, who knows what quarterbacks are being paid? Maybe it’s $100 million a year.”
To me, this sounds like Schefter carrying a bit of water for the 49ers and putting the message out there that, “Hey, they don’t have the cap to pay PUrdy, so that’s why he won’t get top dollar.”
The reality is teams, especially the one we’re talking about, have gotten creative over the years and found ways to play the players they want to pay. And if the 49ers want to restructure multiple veterans to fit Purdy under their “number,” that wouldn’t be an issue because we see them do that every offseason.
Again, Schefter is sending a team-first message and preparing us for a number that could be lower than the $60 million being floated.