Brock Purdy's rise from Mr. Irrelevant to legitimate star quarterback for one of the most prestigious franchises in the NFL is a story that the folks at Disney couldn't have crafted. Yet here we are, less than two years removed from being selected with the final pick in the 2022 NFL Draft, and Brock Purdy has become one of the NFL's biggest stars… a star who soon could be signing his name on what would be a massive and well-deserved contract extension. But Purdy himself is in no hurry to do so. As far as he's concerned, there's still more work to do.
“I still have to put in the work,” Purdy said over the weekend, according to Cam Inman of The Mercury News. “I have to win games for this organization and I have to get better, starting here in OTAs. Everything will fall into place that it needs to, and that’s how I’m looking at it. But I appreciate his (Jed York) kind words.”
The kind words that Purdy speaks of came from 49ers CEO Jed York, who while speaking at the NFL's Annual League Meeting back at the end of March, claimed that a big payday for the currently very cheap Brock Purdy was coming.
“It's a good problem when your quarterback is one of the highest-paid guys on your team and in the league,” York said a couple of weeks back, per Kevin Patra of NFL.com.
Even though Purdy is young, and in his own mind, still needs to prove he can win games and get better, what he's done in a short amount of time has been a remarkable story. Consider, Purdy was thrust into the starting job halfway through the 2022 season after both Trey Lance and Jimmy Garoppolo were knocked out of action due to injuries, and since then he's done nothing but proven he deserved the job in the first place. Last season, Purdy finished fourth in MVP voting behind Lamar Jackson (who won the MVP Award for the 2nd time in his career), Dak Prescott, and 49ers teammate Christian McCaffrey, who finished with a career-high and NFL-best 1,459 rushing yards to go along with 21 total touchdowns.
Christian McCaffrey is just one of a handful of superstar teammates that Purdy has at his disposal. Another, Brandon Aiyuk, is in search of contract extension himself. The former 1st round pick, who will enter his fifth season in the NFL this fall, is coming off of what was a star-making season last year. Aiyuk hauled in 75 catches for 1,342 yards and 7 touchdowns, which earned him a 2nd Team All-Pro nod at the end of the year. And as you'd expect, Brock Purdy is providing the exact right kind of support for his teammate.
“We’ve talked. I just told him I’ll always have his back and support him in whatever he does. I want the best for him. It’s a business thing, so for me to say anything about that, that’s out of my pay grade. He and I talk through things and I hear him out. At the end of the day, what he’s done for me, giving me an opportunity to come in and throw him the ball, I’ll always be thankful for that.”
Ultimately, it's a two-way street. While Purdy should indeed be thankful that he has the likes of Aiyuk, McCaffrey, George Kittle and Deebo Samuel to throw the ball to, all of those guys are just as fortunate that there is stability at that position in San Francisco.
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