Brock Purdy's latest contract prediction will shock 49ers fans to the core

The amount of money Brock Purdy is soon to make, per one prediction, is going to be an astronomical amount by any standard.

Right now, San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy is the best bargain in all of football.

Quite literally.

Being the final pick of the 2022 NFL Draft, the current wage scale for drafted players mandates he would command the cheapest four-year deal out of the entire class, and the 261 players selected before him all signed bigger contracts.

Few players delivered as much as Purdy has over the last two years, though. Yet his $1.119 million to be earned in 2025 doesn't even count against the Niners' top 51 contracts of the offseason.

Yet Purdy is due for a contract extension in 2025, one that'll undoubtedly make him one of the richest players in the entire league, if not the richest, given the market on quarterbacks.

According to one ESPN insider, the deal Purdy will receive could be astronomical.

ESPN's Bill Barnwell predicts Brock Purdy could take home $65 million per year

Quarterback contracts, not unlike other positions, increase regularly on a yearly basis, approximately 12 percent per year in accordance with the league salary cap increasing by the same amount, as broken down by Sports Illustrated's Grant Cohn.

Right now, the two highest-paid quarterbacks are the Jacksonville Jaguars' Trevor Lawrence and the Cincinnati Bengals' Joe Burrow, on a per-year basis, earning an average of $55 million, annually.

That benchmark, coupled with the increasing market, led ESPN's Bill Barnwell to believe Purdy could command a new deal worth an average of $65 million per year:

"If he continues this level of play, my best estimate is that a Purdy deal would come in around five years and $325 million, for an average of $65 million per season. It's always possible the quarterback could take some semblance of a reduced salary to try to make life easier for his team, but after making just $2.6 million over the first three years of his existing deal, I'm not sure why he would be willing to cut the 49ers any slack."

Remember back when then-San Francisco quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo signed a record-setting five-year, $137.5 million deal in 2018 that averaged $27.5 million per season?

Seems like a lifetime ago.

But let's explore the last part of Barnwell's statement from above, whether or not Purdy would accept a deal below his perceived market value.

Would Brock Purdy accept a cheaper deal from 49ers?

Despite his competitive edge, Purdy seems pretty humble and is already raking in cash from numerous sponsorship deals, including a series from John Deere and another from Toyota.

But, while he understands that taking lesser pay will ultimately help San Francisco field a better team around him, would Purdy actually be willing to go below market value, especially when he's made comparative pennies from the 49ers in contrast to other top quarterbacks?

Probably not.

Remember, Purdy effectively bailed the Niners out of the botched 2021 trade-up for quarterback Trey Lance, who was eventually jettisoned to the Dallas Cowboys for a fourth-round pick entering 2023 when Purdy was named the team's full-time starter. That gaffe has been almost entirely covered up by Purdy's prowess, and he now holds serious leverage over San Francisco because of it.

Simply put, the 49ers owe their new quarterback.

And he won't come cheap, especially since he's in no position to accept anything less than a deal in the range of what Barnwell predicted.

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