Brock Purdy’s $265 million 49ers deal is the perfect compromise

There are national analysts and general nitpickers who can’t forget that Purdy was the last pick of the 2022 draft and that he’s barely over 6-feet and can’t throw the ball 70 mph through a rainstorm. And yes, there have been times, especially last season, when he lost Aiyuk, Christian McCaffrey, and others to injury, when Purdy has looked less than scintillating.

But even then, look at his numbers last season as his performance floor: 20 touchdown passes, 12 interceptions, 65.9% completion rate, 8.18 yards per attempt. Purdy ended up with a 96.1 passer rating, ranking 13th among qualifying quarterbacks and comfortably above the league average of 92.3. Again, that was the worst season of his career so far, with most of his top weapons missing for long stretches.

And let’s slot his standout 2023 performance as something close to Purdy’s early-career ceiling: 31 TD passes, 11 INTs, 69.4% completion rate, a league-best 9.6 yards per attempt, and a league-best 113.0 passer rating.

Average those two seasons out and Purdy is easily a top-10 QB, who probably won’t reach his QB prime for several more years and who fits Shanahan’s scheme perfectly. Oh, by the way, it’d be almost impossible for the 49ers to adequately replace him — or maybe trade three first-round picks for a rookie! Sounds great!

“Brock is the leader of our team,” Shanahan said after last season. “I’ve loved these three years with Brock. I plan on being with Brock here the whole time I’m here.”

There was no reason to test any of that in this negotiating period. I think the 49ers and Purdy both knew early on that they could almost pick the day for this deal. They still had to hammer it out, but they knew it wouldn’t get to the June minicamp or beyond. They knew there would be no drama.

Basically, neither the 49ers nor Purdy were dumb enough to mess this up. In this world, after what the 49ers went through last season, that’s much more of a compliment than it sounds like.