The Chiefs and Eagles and Bengals Niners all are looking to the future, but all in different ways and different windows of time.
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Brock Purdy is a cheaper mid-tier quarterback than Jimmy Garoppolo was for the 49ers. Will Purdy and Trey Lancebe enough for the 49ers to bet their championship hopes on in 2023? The team has options
Brady can become a free agent this offseason. The 49ers are the team he grew up rooting for, led by a general manager in John Lynch who competed against Brady on the field. It’s going to be a natural consideration, with some expectation Brady might take a discount to finish his career with one more Super Bowl push. And it doesn’t have to come at the long-term expense of Purdy, either. To the contrary.
“I think they will trade Trey Lance to Tennessee and then they will end up with Brady and Brady will play one year for his home team, and they will have Brock Purdy as the backup,” an exec from another team predicted Sunday. “That is the chatter. They have the defense already, Brady wants to win one more, and this is right up the 49ers’ alley.”
The 49ers may or may not need to upgrade from Purdy to get over the top. What they really need are options more reliable than the ones that keep letting them down. Purdy needs to be part of that mix, but no team as talented as this one can bet it all on eight starts if there’s a chance to put the team over the top without compromising what the longer-term future might hold.
Trading Lance wouldn’t be necessary and would actually cost a little more under the 2023 cap while removing another option, but it could make sense if the value were right. The Titans’ new GM, Ran Carthon, spent the past six seasons with San Francisco.
“I don’t think Lance has enough value right now to trade him,” another exec said.
As things stand now, the 49ers are entering a world they have not inhabited since their first season with Shanahan as head coach (2017). It’s a world where roster management can become easier in the absence of an expensive quarterback.
“They’ll let Jimmy G walk, have Purdy compete with Lance, and the job will be Purdy’s to lose,” an agent who represents other quarterbacks predicted Sunday. “They’ll be open to a Lance trade, knowing that is a long shot. Purdy is so much cheaper than Jimmy, they can add players around Purdy now and maybe still develop Lance.”
That might seem like the safe way to go until McCaffrey is warming up his arm on the sideline with the season on the line.
Garoppolo’s contract counted $27.3 million against the 49ers’ salary cap on average from 2018 through the 2021 season.
The contracts for Purdy and Lance count about $10 million against the cap in 2023, with less than $1 million of that dedicated to Purdy. Garoppolo comes off the books and will presumably land elsewhere. Purdy isn’t eligible for a new contract until after the 2024 season. Lance’s fifth-year option decision must be made by May 2024, with implications for the 2025 season.
The 49ers have time. Do they have a quarterback good enough to take them all the way while their roster remains strong? Purdy will still be available one year from now if the 49ers do sign Brady or even trade for Rodgers, whose acquisition would be trickier and more expensive. If the 49ers do not move in that direction, Purdy should appeal to them more than mid-tier veterans carrying elevated price tags.
Eight games of Purdy isn’t a huge body of work, but the seventh-round pick from Iowa State performed well enough for former three-time NFL general manager Randy Mueller to say during one of our recent podcasts that San Francisco can feel good proceeding with Purdy, based on the film.
“It’ll be Purdy’s job to lose, and I don’t think there’s any looking back,” Mueller said.
Then came Sunday, which won’t change opinions on Purdy but could increase the urgency for reinforcing the position by any means necessary — especially now that Purdy’s ability to throw the ball effectively is in question.