Is Brock Purdy worth his $265M contract extension?

Today at Saddleback College, I gathered two students, Aiden Puig and Jesse Moss, to have a debate over whether Brock Purdy was worth his $265 million extension. In the video we discussed if he was worth the contract, what the general thoughts are and if he can elevate his team. Things were kept respectful yet thoughtful.

During Aiden Puig’s opening statement, he stated, “No, what I think will happen with Brock Purdy, is he is going to be on a team with a bunch of bums.” 

This point was made to contradict the extension, which he makes a valid point. He’s saying that the San Francisco 49ers overpaid the young quarterback and will regret it as they won’t be able to provide Purdy with weapons or necessary help. 

Jesse Moss would contradict Aiden’s point by saying, “He (Brock Purdy) took them to the Super Bowl and to the playoffs and I will say he did better than Jimmy G.”

 Jesse’s point being that Brock Purdy doesn’t need as many weapons as he elevates the 49ers enough with what he has. This was a great debate and many more points were made in this video, please check it out!

 Zach: Alrighty, guys. Welcome to the debate table. Today, we’re talking about Brock Purdy and my name is Zach Atwood and I’m a journalism major at Saddleback College. So, let’s get into it.

Aiden: I’m Aiden. I’m a business major at Saddleback.  

Jesse: Jesse, uh I kind of forgot what my major is. Oh, bibliology – theology at Compass Bible Institute. 

Zach: Alrighty, let’s begin. So, this debate’s going to be on Brock’s contract. He was signed to $265 million over five years. I believe it was like May or something he was signed. Here’s the opposition. He’s against the contract and Jesse is for the contract. Let’s hear the opposition side first. 

Aiden: Well, I’m not going to say that Brock Purdy is not good cuz he is. He’s a good quarterback. He’s better than half the NFC. He’s He deserved the contract. I mean, he got him to the playoffs. He got him to the Super Bowl. I mean, it sounds like I’m in favor of him. That’s how much I like the guy. But he was not worth $270 million. I don’t even know how much of that was guaranteed. 

The Niners won’t be able to pay anyone else. How the hell do you expect to pay a guy like Brandon Aiyuk or Nick Bosa in a few years? Like I get they just paid him, but it’s going to catch up to you. It caught up to the Rams. It catches up to you eventually. And what I think is going to happen here is you’re have Brock Purdy on a team with a bunch of bums. Now, Ricky Pearsall, whatever his name is, I don’t really care. 

He’s gonna be a dog. I agree with that no matter what. But the Niners, they paid him too much. He might go 3,500. He might go 4,200. But the team around him makes him better. He’s like Jared Goff on the Rams. And not that Jared Goff is a bad quarterback, but he’s only an MVP candidate cuz he’s on the Lions. If he’s on any other team, he’d be he’d be he’d be horrible. 

I mean, look how he was on the Rams when the Rams didn’t give him a top five running back, a top five wide receiver room. You you do the same thing to Brock Purdy. He’s not bad QB, but he’s in the middle half of the league. He’s not – I wouldn’t say he’s elite, but he’s serviceable and he’ll get the job done. He’s a guy that you need to pay, but you paid him too much. 

Sports editor Zach Atwood talks with business major Aiden Puig about Brock Purdy’s extension. Zach Atwood | Lariat

On the same note, the NFL set the standard way too high when they paid Trevor Lawrence. How much was it? 225 That’s too damn much. He’s never done anything. Now, I’m going to let Jesse talk, but I truly do believe in my dearest heart of hearts that the 49ers overpaid Brock Purdy. 

 Zach: Expert analysis by Aiden Puig. Let’s hear Jesse’s side.

 Jesse: I understand what you’re saying. Like, yeah, maybe they paid him. I don’t think they paid him over too much because he’s like, you think about it, he took him to the Super Bowl and took him to the playoffs, right? He did better. I would say he did better than uh Jimmy G, bro. Because, bro, the performance he did in that Super Bowl proved that he was not a quarter going to be a franchise. 

What Brock Purdy did in the Super Bowl kind of proved that he was, you know, think about and I see what you mean that they they cut the extension for Deebo and all that, but like Deebo, he was not at the end, but I can see what your point, bro, when I heard what you said.

 Aiden: Okay, so you made some points, valid or not, what I will say is that what’s it called? What was I going to say? Oh, yeah. The Pro Football Focus Grade. Now, a lot of people don’t look at it. A lot of people say Stafford’s bad. And a lot of people say A lot of people will say that guys like Stafford are bad. 

Bro doesn’t make plays happen. But these guys are guys that No, despite the stats, they make plays happen franchise QBs. That’s the thing, bro. That’s what they wanted to make perfect. And I know they’re franchise QBs, but Stafford’s not franchise QB for the Rams. He’s a placeholder. Now, I’m not saying that Stafford at one point wasn’t our starting QB, but he’s in the bottom half. He’s no longer a franchise QB. 

But what he is, he’s our quarterback. And what Stafford does that Brock Purdy doesn’t is he when you need him most, he’s going to make plays happen. He makes his, he makes the players around him better. Does Purdy elevate his players?

 Jesse: Think about it. They’re making him a franchise QB. That’s why they’re paying

them more money.

Aiden: But you have to define franchise QB then. You have to define franchise QB

then. Do you define franchise QB? It is a younger player who’s gonna be at this team for 20 years. The Rams are gonna get a franchise QB, but that’s not Stafford right now. And we’re not talking about Stafford. We’re talking about Brock Purdy. I want to bring Stafford up to set an example. I didn’t bring Stafford up. You brought Stafford up. Okay, you can review the tape on that one, too, folks. Okay, so here’s what I’m going to say is that Stafford, he makes plays happen, he elevates his players. Puka Nakua probably wouldn’t be a top five wide receiver on another team. Kyren I mean Kyren helped Stafford a lot.

 Jesse: You’re saying is that they have all they need is just all the Rams need is just a

better good quarterback, right?

 Aiden: No, what I’m saying is that when you pay a quarterback that much money, you need him to elevate the players around you. You got a guy like Joe Burrow, he elevates his players around him. You got a guy like Mahomes, he elevates the player around him. I don’t know if Brock Purdy does that as much as the team around him elevates his play.

 Zach: So that is a good point. But I do want to bring into consideration Aiyuk was a second team all-pro in 2023 with Purdy. So I just want to hear your side on that and then your side.

 Jesse: Imagine think about the Garoppolo and Aiyuk, bro. There was no connection between them

bro. No connection. No connection at all.

 Aiden: You bring a valid point. Garoppolo is a worse quarterback than pretty. I’m not going to say that’s wrong. What I will say is that Brandon Aiyuk, George Kittle, Deebo Samuel, Christian McCaffery elevate that level of play. Now, they would they elevated Garoppolo, too. Garoppolo, I don’t think Garoppolo is that bad. I saw him play on the Rams as the Seahawks starting defense, which I think is a top 10 defense in the NFL.

 Jesse: He can’t handle the pressure. That’s the thing.

 Aiden: No, he can’t. Brock Purdy can handle a lot better than he ever has. Yeah, I’ll give Brock Purdy that. But I don’t know if Brock Purdy’s necessarily elevating the players around him is the players around him are elevating him.

 Jesse: I see what you mean. But like think about it. Guess who stayed? Ja’uan Jennings, Kittle, Juszczyk and Trent. A lot of the players still stayed and they they they were okay with the pay cut because they’re having a franchise franchise QB

being added to the to the roster.

 Aiden: I believe he’s a franchise QB. I don’t believe he’s a $270 million franchise

 Jesse: That’s why they’re paying him like this because it’s only so what they did was at 181 up front and they’re doing $100 million fully guaranteed for signing and then after that he’s going to get 81 after the game and then after that every year he’s going to be paid 55 or 55 $52 million. So that meaning it’s a contract. 

So if he doesn’t perform what he is, they’re not going to give him the full money obviously, but they secured him in the contract. So he’s not a free agent now. So they can really they can still decide for trading if he does underperform. But if they take this much, they invest in him, bro. They invested him. They they’re investing him, right?

 Aiden: They’re not trading Brock Purdy.

 Jesse: Exactly. Exactly. That’s the point.

 Aiden: But here’s my point. Is Brock Purdy better than Joe Burrow? Is he better than Lamar Jackson? Is he better than some of these guys who are getting paid less or about the same as him? I don’t think he is. Now, I might be wrong. Five years from now, Brock Purdy might win a Super Bowl and look like Joe Montana for all I know. I don’t think that’s going to happen, though. What I think you’re going to see is Brock Purdy struggle this year when he has Ja’uan Jennings. Is it is he is Ja’uan Jennings even playing week one? I don’t know.

 Jesse: Yeah, he is. He’s tough.

 Aiden: He is.

 Jesse: It’s Ricky Pearsall. Ja’uan. Joe Burrow got 275 million over a five-year contract.

 Aiden: Who? Joe Burrow and Purdy made 270?

 Jesse: 265.

 Aiden: So is Burrow $5 million better?

 Jesse: That was in 2023. That’s when his starting QB. That’s when he barely That’s when he started. So they made him a franchise QB over the years. Now that’s why he’s been staying here that long, dog.

 Aiden: What do you mean? That’s why he’s he was he would still be on contract. They paid

him early.

Jesse: Exactly. Exactly. But if they wanted to, they could have traded him. But he’s a

good he’s a good quarterback.

Aiden: Wouldn’t they just let him become a free agent and then draft a new quarterback in the seventh round? I mean, you could sign Jimmy Garoppolo and you’d still go 12 and five, 12 and four. I mean, they did it within. This Niners team’s better than that Niners team was. Well, maybe not the receiving core, but the running back room is. Like that 2019 team was a solid team. The defense was great and that was a young Nick Bosa. Was Fred Warner on that team?

 Jesse: Yeah.

 Aiden: Yeah. Young Fred Warner was a young team of rookies. They’ve only gotten better since then. I’d say maybe the receiving room’s gotten slightly worse, but even then it was Emanuel Sanders and rookie Deebo Samuel. That was the lineup at

receiver.

 Jesse: Yeah.

 Aiden: And then you had Raheem Mostert. Who was the other one? Uh CJ something Matt Breida and Raheem Mostert. They had a running back room in general. There was a room there. The team was good and this team’s gotten better that Christian McCaffrey, Brian Robinson Jr. 

Um, they the receiving room is the only thing I say that’s slightly gotten worse and even then it’s not that much worse than what it was. I think Ricky Pearsall is about to have insane numbers this year. He’s already showing me, but Brock Purdy is not a $270 million quarterback.

 Zach: Alrighty, guys. Thank you so much for watching this debate. This was really

fun to do. And um have a great one, guys. Bye.

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