49ers’ Brock Purdy asked for record-setting amount in contract negotiations with San Francisco, per report

Brock Purdy just landed a massive contract extension with the San Francisco 49ers, and it’s a deal that could have made NFL history if the team had agreed to pay Purdy his initial asking price. 

Purdy and his agent (Kyle Strongin) opened negotiations with an asking price of $65 million per year, according to ESPN. 

“His initial asking price, I believe, was about $65 million,” Adam Schefter said during a recent interview with Unsportsmanlike Radio. “So it came down to $53 million in the end and that’s a fair number. It places him in the top tier of quarterbacks, not the richest, not the worst.”

Purdy ended up getting a five-year, $265 million extension that makes him one of the highest-paid quarterbacks in the NFL. With an average annual value of $53 million, Purdy is now tied with Jared Goff as the seventh-highest paid quarterback in the league. However, if he had gotten the $65 million per year that he initially requested, he would have made NFL history. The highest-paid quarterback is currently Dak Prescott, who’s making an average of $60 million per year. 

“That was his initial asking price, $65 million,” Schefter said. “But you know what? Everybody’s initial asking price should be high. That’s how it should be, and his was. I don’t know that he thought he was going to get that, but you might as well start high. Nothing abnormal or unusual about that at all. And they came in where they did.”

After making just $985,000 in base salary last season, Purdy tried to shoot his shot with an asking price that would have paid him $5 million per year MORE than the highest-paid player in the league. Of course, the asking price isn’t necessarily a huge deal, because if you think highly of yourself, you should start the negotiation at a higher number. 

Schefter also noted that the 49ers were never going to pay him anything in the $60 million range. 

“There were multiple meetings between the two sides … and he was not going to get $60 million. He was not going to become the highest-paid quarterback in football,” Schefter said. “It did not fit into the 49ers’ salary structure.”

Purdy has has led the 49ers to two NFC title games and a Super Bowl during his 2.5 seasons as the team’s starter, so $53 million per year definitely seems fair. A five-year deal worth $65 million per year would have paid Purdy a total of $325 million over the life of the deal. 

During a press conference on Wednesday, Purdy admitted that he was trying to walk a fine line between getting what he deserves to be paid while also leaving money on the table for his teammates. 

“I play in the NFL, there’s 32 starting quarterbacks and those guys, like it’s not the easiest job in the world,” Purdy said. “I know who I am and I’m going to obviously want to get what I deserve, but also surround myself, like I said, with guys around me and not just try to take every penny for myself. But that’s the whole point of negotiating, you go throughout that you try to meet in the middle ground and where we ended, I’m extremely grateful and happy with.”

If $53 million was the middle ground, then it’s certainly conceivable that Purdy started off negotiations with an asking price at $60 million or above. 

Brock Purdy officially signs massive extension: 49ers GM John Lynch had ‘no idea how special’ QB would become

Jared Dubin

Either way, Purdy is now getting a huge raise. As the Mr. Irrelevant of the 2022 draft, AKA the very last pick, Purdy didn’t get a huge rookie contract. Back in 2022, Purdy signed a four-year, $3.74 million deal that paid him an average of just $935,000 per game. Under his new contract, he’ll be getting a raise of more than $260 million over his first deal, which probably feels pretty good for the 25-year-old, even if he didn’t get the $65 million per year that he initially asked for.