The San Francisco 49ers now have one of the most enviable circumstances in the NFL. They have a quarterback on a seventh-round rookie scale contract who has played at an All-Pro level, and his inexpensive salary in relation to other starters has allowed the Niners to assemble one of the NFL’s top lineups around him.
However, this is unlikely to continue for long. Brock Purdy will be extension-eligible next offseason, and if he performs anywhere near the level he did in his first two seasons, he will properly want a monster contract. 49ers owner Jed York is not concerned about this causing complications.
“It’s a good problem when your quarterback is one of the highest-paid guys on your team and in the league,” York remarked during the NFL’s annual owners meetings, according to The Mercury News.
York appears to be acutely aware that this is simply how elite quarterbacks operate. It is not always important to consider how good a quarterback is in comparison to other quarterbacks in the league. All that counts is that because quarterbacks are so important, whoever is up for a contract next has a lot of clout.
“That’s what the market is. “Brock is going to ask for something that no one has ever asked for before,” York remarked with confidence. “I don’t know how many players are making over $40 million (annually) as a quarterback right now.”
Of course, York will most likely not be the one to negotiate the real contract with Purdy. The Niners have a front office that handles this type of stuff.
“A lot of planning goes into it. I’m pleased to have Paraag (Marathe), J.L. (John Lynch), and Kyle (Shanahan). They’ll iron out the intricacies, and all I have to do is sign the checks. My involvement in that is fairly simple.”
