Brock Purdy

49ers’ John Lynch, Kyle Shanahan Endorse Long-Term Brock Purdy Extension

The 49ers’ coaching staff is the center of the team’s attention right now, but the coming offseason will include a number of major roster-building decisions. The most significant of those, of course, will be a Brock Purdy extension.

San Francisco’s decision-makers are well aware of the fact this offseason represents the former Mr. Irrelevant’s first point at which he could sign a long-term deal. A massive raise will be in store compared to his rookie pact, although it remains to be seen how high the 49ers will be willing to go with respect to average annual value. Purdy himself hopes to get through the negotiating process in short order, and the team made it clear on Wednesday a deal keeping him in the Bay Area for the foreseeable future is a mutual goal.

“What we know about Brock is he’s our guy,” general manager John Lynch said (via ESPN’s Nick Wagoner). Purdy took over starting duties midway through his rookie season, and his level of play helped inform the departures of Jimmy Garoppolo and Trey Lance. The Iowa State product’s success was key in San Francisco’s latest Super Bowl appearance, and going one step further will be the target for Lynch and head coach Kyle Shanahan moving forward. In spite of Purdy’s regression in 2024 – matched by that of the team as a whole – no quarterback competition is on tap with the final year of his rookie contract looming.

“I plan on being with Brock here the whole time I’m here,” Shanahan said (via Wagoner). “He’s a guy I’ve got a lot of confidence in just as a human, but it starts with what he’s done on the field these last two and a half years. We’re capable of winning the Super Bowl with him. He just almost did and I know he’s capable of getting the Niners a Super Bowl in the future.”

Coming off a 6-11 season, the 49ers will look for new faces at a number of positions. That is especially the case considering some of the pending free agents which are on track to depart given the cap commitments a new Purdy deal will require. The top of the quarterback market reached $60MM just before the start of the season, and eight other passers are currently on a deal averaging at least $51MM per year. Even if Purdy’s next pact checks in at a relative discount, the 49ers’ cap structure will undergo major changes moving forward.

Given the mutual interest which exists between team and player to work out an agreement, it will be interesting to see how quickly progress is made at the negotiating table. The 49ers have a history of lengthy contract talks with key players, but such a scenario may be avoided in Purdy’s case.

Brock Purdy Targeting Early-Offseason Extension

The 49ers have taken their time with most of their big-ticket extensions under John Lynch and Kyle Shanahan. Brandon Aiyuk and Nick Bosa signed just before the past two seasons, respectively, while the Deebo Samuel and George Kittle deals occurred during training camp. Brock Purdy is targeting a deal much earlier.

Not long after a report surfaced pointing to the 49ers not being keen on paying Purdy a top-market rate, the three-year veteran quarterback is targeting a deal that ends this matter before the team’s offseason program begins in April. Purdy made it clear he will seek a 49ers extension. All signs point to the franchise being ready to explore a deal for the seventh-round steal.

[RELATED: Assessing Purdy’s Extension Candidacy]

I want to obviously get it done,” Purdy said, via ESPN.com’s Nick Wagoner. “If that’s an opportunity to be able to get that done quick, that’d be great. Just so we can get back for phase one.

While that has not been San Francisco’s M.O., they have hammered out a notable QB contract early in an offseason during the Shanahan-Lynch regime. The 49ers gave Jimmy Garoppolo a then-record contract in February 2018. Of course, the primary difference between a Garoppolo payday and a Purdy pact centers around team control. The 49ers paid Garoppolo weeks before he was to hit free agency; Purdy’s rookie deal runs through the 2025 season. That gives the 49ers time, and Purdy’s hopes may not align with the organization’s.

It stands to reason the 49ers will not deviate from their plans to pay Purdy, but they are under no obligation to do it early. This coming offseason, thanks largely to the 2021 and ’22 QB classes not producing many extension candidates, may also not see the market change. Josh Allen could have a say, even though the Bills have him locked down for multiple years, but the 2023 and ’24 offseasons settled a lot of business on the QB market. This would allow the 49ers to wait a bit, and Purdy’s price point will matter significantly as well.

Purdy, 25, has accomplished more than Jordan Love and Trevor Lawrence, who inked $55MM-per-year deals this past summer. It would stand to reason those accords would be the former Mr. Irrelevant’s floor. Even if the 49ers are understandably not comfortable going into the $60MM-AAV (with a player-friendly structure) neighborhood Dak Prescott populates by himself, it will then be on the team to determine whether that Lawrence-Love territory would work. Otherwise, the team would have another year of rookie-deal control and a $40MM-plus franchise tag at its disposal.

49ers Unwilling To Authorize Top-Of-Market Extension For QB Brock Purdy?

49ers quarterback Brock Purdy will be eligible for an extension at season’s end, and a report from last month indicated that San Francisco wants to hammer out a new deal for its starting signal-caller this offseason. Earlier this week, Charles Robinson of Yahoo! Sports reported that the team could wait on a Purdy extension – perhaps with an eye towards franchise-tagging him in 2026 if need be – but Robinson confirms the Niners would prefer to strike a multiyear accord in the coming months.

[RELATED: Purdy’s Elbow Injury Not Long-Term Concern]

After all, the QB market continues to boom, even for players below the top tier of the position. Although Purdy has regressed from his excellent 2023 performance and has been more inconsistent in 2024 – while also turning the ball over 15 times – players like Jordan Love and Trevor Lawrence arguably had not proven as much as Purdy when they entered their own negotiations, which culminated in $55MM/year contracts for the former first-rounders.

It therefore stands to reason that Purdy could command at least that much in his impending talks with the 49ers, and according to Robinson, the success of the contract discussions will depend on how ambitious Purdy’s camp plans to be. If 2022’s Mr. Irrelevant shoots for the top of the market – in other words, if he aims for Dak Prescott’s record-smashing $60MM AAV or Joe Burrow’s $146.51MM in full guarantees – then San Francisco could balk (even though Purdy has had more postseason success than Prescott, the Cowboys’ passer had unique leverage due to his prior contractual dealings with Dallas).

On the other hand, if Purdy is more “reasonable” in his demands and would be willing to accept a deal akin to Love’s (four years, $210MM, with $100MM in fully guaranteed money), the Niners may be willing to play ball. Since Purdy, as a seventh-round pick, has made less than $3MM over his first three years in the league, even a payout on Love’s level would doubtlessly be quite tempting.

That said, the Iowa State product continues to be a QBR darling, as he presently ranks seventh in the metric after leading the league in that regard, along with “traditional” quarterback rating, in 2023. He ranks 13th in quarterback rating among regular starters in 2024 (coincidentally, one spot behind Love). This is despite the fact that invaluable skill-position players Brandon Aiyuk and Christian McCaffrey have played a combined 11 games, with future Hall of Fame left tackle Trent Williams also missing significant time. 

Plus, Purdy has compensated for his downturn in passing output with an improvement in his efforts as a runner, as he has carried the ball 66 times for 323 yards (4.9 yards per carry) and five scores. He is not a perfect player, and he may need more talent surrounding him than a truly elite passer might, but when it comes to quarterbacks, clubs are understandably reluctant to pass on a bird in the hand, no matter the cost. The Niners’ competitive window still appears to be wide open, and unlike the Cowboys during their first round of extension talks with Prescott, they may want to lock down their QB1 before the market continues to soar.

Brock Purdy Avoids Structural Damage

JANUARY 3: John Lynch confirmed Friday during a KNBR interview (h/t 49ersWebZone.com) that Purdy avoided any long-term elbow issues. The 49ers are preparing to sit their starter for Week 18, but this issue should not impact him for too long into the offseason.

DECEMBER 31: An MRI revealed that 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy suffered no structural damage after leaving the game on Monday night, but he is not expected to play again this season, per Eric Branch of The San Francisco Chronicle.

Head coach Kyle Shanahan said that Purdy “most likely” will sit out the 49ers’ regular season finale next week, though he is not dealing with any “long-term issues.” Specifically, the ulnar collateral ligament he tore in the NFC Championship Game in January 2023 is not affected.

San Francisco was eliminated from postseason contention in Week 16, so neither Purdy nor Shanahan will want to risk further damage in an essentially meaningless Week 18 game.

Purdy’s current injury is unlikely to impact upcoming extension negotiations with the 49ers. The 2022 seventh-round pick is still under contract for $1.12MM in 2025, but he will be looking to cash in after making less than $1MM per year to start his career.

Purdy will finish the 2024 season with 3,864 passing yards, a 65.9% completion rate, and 20 touchdowns to go along with 12 interceptions, a decrease from his 2023 Pro Bowl production. That downtick isn’t entirely Purdy’s fault, as the 49ers have dealt with significant absences from three of their best offensive players: Christian McCaffrey, Brandon Aiyuk, and Trent Williams.

Shanahan has not decided who will start at quarterback in Purdy’s place next week. Brandon Allen started on November 24 when Purdy was sidelined with a shoulder injury, but Joshua Dobbs was active instead of Allen on Monday. Dobbs’ mobility could give him a leg up behind the 49ers’ banged-up offensive line, though Allen won the backup quarterback job during the preseason and is still listed as such on the team’s depth chart. 

49ers Not Changing Aim Of Signing Brock Purdy To Long-Term Deal

Evidenced further by the events of this offseason, quarterbacks possess unrivaled leverage. Trevor Lawrence and Jordan Love rose to the top of the NFL’s salary hierarchy for a period, joining Joe Burrow on that perch without similar accolades. Dak Prescott then smashed through that ceiling to a watershed contract, using unique leverage against the Cowboys to secure the league’s current highwater deal.

As we discussed at a few points this year, teams are not taking a chance of passing on paying a second-tier (or lower) quarterback a top-market rate. The 49ers have seen Brock Purdy become a revelation since being the last pick in the 2022 draft, with Kyle Shanahan‘s pieces operating at their best with the former Iowa State prospect at the controls. While Purdy has not been confused with a top-tier talent, he has been effective since Jimmy Garoppolo‘s December 2022 foot injury gave him the keys to a high-powered offense.

[RELATED: Assessing Purdy’s Extension Candidacy]

The 49ers are not planning to be the team that passes on a QB payment to seek a lower-cost alternative, with NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport indicating they are indeed eyeing a long-term Purdy extension. The sides cannot begin true negotiations until January, but it appears another 49ers offseason contract saga — this one perhaps the most complicated — is on tap.

49ers CEO Jed York said early this offseason that the team was preparing for a future with Purdy on a high-end contract. In the months since, the NFL has seen five more QBs surpass $50MM AAV. Prescott soared to $60MM per year, inking that deal hours before the Cowboys’ season opener. Purdy, 24, does not carry the leverage Prescott did — a bargaining position secured due to Dallas’ previous contractual dealings with its QB — but he does play by far the sport’s most important position. That proved a sufficient weapon for Lawrence, Love and Tua Tagovailoa this offseason. Still, some rumblings around the league pointed to forthcoming hesitancy on the 49ers’ part. Thus far, no such trepidation exists.

Even as Purdy is not being mentioned as a Josh Allen or Patrick Mahomes peer in terms of abilities, he has done quite well to keep the 49ers’ machine humming. Last year’s QBR leader ranks sixth in that metric this season, doing so despite Brandon Aiyuk going down before midseason and Christian McCaffrey barely factoring into the year. Trent Williams has also missed recent games. While Purdy will check in with worse numbers than his strong 2023 season, he has proven more on the field than Lawrence or Love to enter high-stakes negotiations. Purdy has also been a better run-game threat compared to 2023, totaling 282 rushing yards thus far this year after accumulating 144 in 16 games last season.

The 49ers, however, also could use Shanahan’s QB-friendly system against their current starter once negotiations commence. The prospect of jettisoning Purdy — or even delaying a payment — due to the impact Shanahan and the talent around him have made on the QB’s career could be part of the talks, but it does not sound like the 49ers are seriously considering a pivot from Purdy once he commands a lucrative extension.

The team that entered long-running talks with Deebo Samuel, Nick Bosa and Aiyuk over the past three years will now be tasked with hammering out a megadeal for a player it chose with the final pick in the draft. San Francisco’s upcoming negotiation promises to be the most interesting of the bunch.

Extension Candidate: Brock Purdy

Barely a month remains before the 49ers can begin extension talks with Brock Purdy, the Mr. Irrelevant find that helped bail the franchise out of the predicament the Trey Lance miss created. Purdy has lost two of his top four weapons, and he has picked up a shoulder injury. Though, San Francisco’s third-year starter has still accounted himself fairly well in this de facto platform year.

Purdy’s seventh-round contract runs through 2025, and the 49ers have the leverage of a potential 2026 franchise tag at their disposal. But the expectation has been for Purdy extension talks to begin soon. Where those go will be one of the 2025 offseason’s central storylines, as the 49ers — after Deebo Samuel‘s 2022 trade request, Nick Bosa‘s 2023 holdout and Brandon Aiyuk‘s rumor-flooded hold-in — are set to have another offseason dominated by a big-ticket contract.

The question that will define the 49ers’ offseason, as well as the organization’s longer-term outlook, centers around where these negotiations will end up. Dak Prescott used extraordinary leverage to drive the quarterback market to $60MM per year, representing a staggering increase based on where the NFL was just five years prior. It took 25 years for the QB market to balloon from $5MM AAV to $25MM AAV; it has since taken just six for it to climb from $30-$60MM per year. At some point, a team will pass on a monster QB payment. The 2024 offseason did not feature any such actions.

Despite neither Trevor Lawrence nor Jordan Love having established themselves as top-tier quarterbacks, each matched Joe Burrow‘s then-record $55MM AAV. Tua Tagovailoa‘s injury history and inconsistent first two seasons made him a curious extension candidate. Despite rumblings of the Dolphins being leery of paying the going rate, they ultimately did, authorizing a $53.1MM-per-year payday for their southpaw starter. It no longer requires sufficient credentials to earn a top-market QB contract. The leverage the position’s importance creates — amid the fear of starting over — drives these negotiations, putting Purdy in strong position.

Purdy, 25 this month, needed to beat out Nate Sudfeld for the 49ers’ third-string job during his first training camp. Lance’s subsequent ankle injury bumped him to the QB2 role, and San Francisco’s offense — to the surprise of most — did not slow down after Jimmy Garoppolo‘s foot fracture. Purdy proved competent and piloted the team to the 2022 NFC championship game. He then made it back by Week 1 after UCL rehab, during an offseason that ended with the 49ers admitting defeat on Lance, whom they traded to the Cowboys for a fourth-round pick.

Purdy took significant steps last season, throwing 31 touchdown passes in 16 games and becoming the first passer to start a full season and average 9.6 yards per attempt since the 1950s. He led the NFL in QBR and passer rating. The 49ers’ four-All-Pro skill-position cadre provided a considerable boost for the formerly unappealing prospect, but Purdy finished last season by going toe-to-toe with Patrick Mahomes in Super Bowl LVIII. He has been at the wheel longer than Love and has offered more stability than Lawrence. That $55MM-per-year price, then, makes sense as a clear floor.

Of course, persistent Purdy skepticism has come from his place in Kyle Shanahan‘s scheme and whether he would be worth such a contract. After all, the team did find Purdy in Round 7. Wouldn’t it be within the realm of possibility for the franchise to consider cashing out via trade (at some point) and believing it could maximize another passer lacking elite skills? Then again, that is a dangerous game to play.

The 49ers being the team to strongly consider passing on authorizing such a contract should not be ruled out, seeing as Shanahan reached a Super Bowl with Garoppolo at the helm. The 49ers would also see their roster blueprint change wildly if/once they pay Purdy. How the team proceeds with its host of contract-year starters in 2025 — a group including Charvarius Ward, Dre Greenlaw, Talanoa Hufanga and Aaron Banks — may be an early tell on how it will proceed with Purdy, as paying the QB — even in the expected event of a backloaded structure that kept cap hits low early — would naturally lead to cost-cutting moves elsewhere on the roster.

Purdy sits seventh in QBR despite Aiyuk and Christian McCaffrey missing most of the season. The Iowa State alum still ranks fourth in Y/A (8.4) and has delivered 275 rushing yards — far more than he offered in 16 games last year. He is on the cusp of receiving the biggest raise in NFL history, as the seventh-round deal averages $934K per annum. 49ers CEO Jed York pointed to the team already planning for a Purdy payday, and while rumblings about a Kirk Cousins trade serving as a potential fallback option (thus reuniting he and Shanahan, Washington’s OC at the time the veteran was drafted) have surfaced, nothing serious has come out regarding any real considerations of separating from Purdy.

With the exception of Prescott, Cousins and Lamar Jackson, high-end QB paydays in the fifth-year option era commence before or during the player’s contract year. QB tags are rare. The 49ers could keep Purdy at a $1.1MM base salary next season and prepare for a 2026 tag at roughly $45MM, but they then run the risk of the market rising down the road. It can also be argued the market might not change much in 2025, as the 2021 and ’22 draft classes have not brought extension candidates. Lawrence has already been paid, with the other four first-round QBs from 2021 not being in line for monster pacts. The 2022 early-round crop has been even worse, with Purdy the only extension candidate to come from that disappointing QB draft.

The NFL’s $50MM-per-year club expanded to nine this offseason, and Josh Allen will be a candidate to eclipse Prescott’s contract perhaps as early as 2025. The MVP frontrunner does not carry the contractual leverage Prescott did, in being tied to his $43MM-per-year accord through 2027, but the Bills will need to address this team-friendly deal at some point. Allen’s six-year deal is as close as any QB has come to accepting team-friendly terms in line with Mahomes’. The three-time Super Bowl MVP is still signed through 2031 at $45MM per, giving the Chiefs tremendous flexibility. But his peers have, as expected, still opted for shorter-term deals that would allow for more prime-years paydays.

Barring Purdy accepting Mahomes- or Allen-level terms, the 49ers will need to pay up and make sacrifices elsewhere. That would stand to impact their loaded (when healthy) roster. That will mark a significant change for the franchise, though the team already had Garoppolo on top-market (at the time) terms and still churned out winning squads. San Francisco’s Shanahan-era blueprints have come with and without a veteran-QB deal on the payroll.

Starting over at quarterback would represents a massive risk, and for a team that missed badly when trying to do so (Lance) earlier this decade, it might not be one to take. Purdy has proven effective in Shanahan’s offense, putting him on the cusp of the NFL’s latest quarterback megadeal. How it comes together will shape the market for future passers.

Given how disappointing most of the other arms from the 2021 and ’22 drafts have been, Purdy suddenly resides as the QB market’s centerpiece player for the 2025 offseason. While the 49ers are no strangers to contract drama, it currently appears more likely than not they will stay the course and not become the team that refuses to pay a passer the going rate. Purdy’s asking price topping Prescott’s may change that, but a deal between the Lawrence-Love level and where the Cowboys’ leverage-fueled QB raised the market is probably something the 49ers will need to stomach.

49ers’ Brock Purdy To Return In Week 13; Trent Williams Still Out

DECEMBER 1: Purdy will suit up for the 49ers’ Week 13 game against the Bills today, as Cam Inman of the Bay Area News Group reports. Per Inman and Schefter, Purdy was a full participant in practice over the last two days and did not experience any setbacks. As ESPN’s Dan Graziano notes, the Niners were surprised that Purdy’s shoulder injury was serious enough to keep him out of game action last week (subscription required), but the team was obviously correct in its belief that its QB1’s absence would be brief.

The news is not so good for Williams. Matt Barrows of The Athletic reported earlier this week that the left tackle was using a scooter to move around the locker room, and that even walking has been painful for him. Williams has been ruled out for Week 13.

NOVEMBER 24: A successful UCL rehab led to Brock Purdy not missing any time due to injury last season, but the 49ers’ starting quarterback is out for the team’s Week 12 matchup with the Packers today. It is not yet certain Purdy will return in Week 13, but the team views it as likely.

An injury to the blossoming passer’s throwing shoulder will keep him out in Green Bay, though no IR stint should be expected. The 49ers believe Purdy will be ready to play against the Bills next week, ESPN.com’s Adam Schefter notes, as a high level of concern is not present. While a return after one absence would help put Purdy back on track — as offseason extension talks are expected — the 49ers are in a difficult spot presently.

Also hopeful (per Schefter) Trent Williams will play today, the 49ers will face the 7-3 Packers without their other two most important players. Nick Bosa is also out, dealing with hip and oblique injuries. The 49ers will face the 9-2 Bills on Sunday night next week. Although the defending NFC champions have two more NFC West games left, they also host the surging Lions in Week 17. Williams is battling an ankle injury and did not practice this week. One of five All-Pros on San Francisco’s offense, the future Hall of Famer certainly would be vital to protecting Purdy’s backup.

As Brandon Allen prepares for his first start since Week 17 of the 2021 season — when Bengals HC Zac Taylor rested starters — ESPN’s FPI gives the 49ers just a 21.5% chance to make the playoffs. Allen, 32, has not made more than one start in a season since 2020. The 49ers added him shortly after the 2023 draft, and Sam Darnold beating out Trey Lance for the backup job last year keyed the trade with the Cowboys and Allen rising to the No. 3 role. Darnold’s offseason Vikings defection bumped him to the No. 2 job, and Josh Dobbs will back up the former sixth-round pick today.

Following Jalen Hurts in going toe-to-toe with Patrick Mahomes in a Super Bowl, Purdy has established himself as the 49ers’ unquestioned starter. He ranks fifth in QBR this season and in 2023 became the first passer to average at least 9.6 yards per attempt over a full season since the 1950s. Although some rumblings around the league have suggested a Kirk Cousins trade as a contingency plan in case the 49ers become leery of giving a former seventh-round pick a contract at or near the Dak Prescott rate, Purdy is expected to secure a top-market salary in 2025.

49ers Rule Out Brock Purdy, Nick Bosa For Week 12

Kyle Shanahan announced that the 49ers ruled out All-Pro defensive end Nick Bosa and starting quarterback Brock Purdy for their Week 12 matchup with the Packers.

Shanahan also announced that Brandon Allen will make his first start since 2019 in Purdy’s absence. Allen has played just one snap this season: a kneel-down to close out a 32-19 victory over the Jets in Week 1.

[RELATED: Trent Williams Not Improving, Iffy For Week 13]

Purdy has been dealing with a shoulder injury since the 49ers’ Week 11 loss to the Seahawks, limiting him in practice on Wednesday and Thursday before holding him out entirely on Friday. Shanahan said that an MRI of Purdy’s shoulder did not reveal a long-term issue, but his status for Week 13 against the Bills is “up in the air,” per the San Jose Mercury News’ Cam Inman.

Allen spent 2023 in San Francisco as the team’s third-string quarterback behind Purdy and Sam Darnold. He re-signed with the 49ers during the offseason and beat out Joshua Dobbs for backup quarterback job this year.

Purdy is still traveling with the team, but he will not be joined by Bosa, who is remaining in San Francisco for treatment on his oblique and hip, according to ESPN’s Nick Wagoner. Bosa has racked up 4.0 sacks in his last four games despite dealing with the injury for almost a month.

Yetur Gross-Matos is likely to start in Bosa’s place after being activated from injured reserve and recording his first sack as a 49er last week.

49ers’ Brock Purdy, Trent Williams, Nick Bosa In Doubt For Week 12

The 49ers have run into steady injury trouble this season, and arguably their three most important players are in doubt for a Week 12 game against the Packers. Most notably, Brock Purdy has now gone through an MRI on his injured throwing shoulder.

Limited in practice over the past two days, Purdy is iffy for San Francisco’s Green Bay trip. John Lynch said during a KNBR interview (h/t Cam Inman of the San Jose Mercury News) the situation is “tenuous” and noted Brandon Allen would take the snaps in front of Joshua Dobbs if Purdy were unable to go.

Purdy has not missed a start due to injury since suffering a UCL tear in the 2022 NFC championship game, establishing himself as the 49ers’ full-time starter in that span. Meanwhile, the 49ers have seen neither Nick Bosa nor Trent Williams practice this week. Bosa is dealing with the oblique injury suffered against the Seahawks in Week 11, while Williams has played through an ankle issue.

Sounding alarm bells about the All-Pro left tackle’s situation, Kyle Shanahan said (via the San Francisco Chronicle’s Eric Branch) the painkilling injection Williams received last week has not helped. Considering how the 49ers fared without Williams last season, this becomes a central concern for a team that has fallen to 5-5 and has a Packers-Bills road stretch upcoming.

Williams took the pregame injection and played every offensive snap for the 49ers in Week 12, but the aftermath threatens to keep him out. Williams, 36, has not missed any time this season; his absences last year point to trouble if the 49ers do not have the future Hall of Famer available Sunday. The 49ers lost to the Bengals and Vikings without Williams, starting their second-half push when he and Deebo Samuel returned to action. Williams has been the NFL’s first-team All-Pro left tackle for the past three seasons, riding those accolades to secure a lucrative rework in August.

Bosa sustained hip and oblique damage during San Francisco’s loss to Seattle, significantly hindering the team’s pass rush. The 49ers have relied on the dominant edge defender throughout his career, with the team’s Shanahan-era surge not beginning until it drafted Bosa second overall in 2019. The 49ers’ lone non-playoff season in that span (2020) came when Bosa suffered a torn ACL in Week 2, and the team has played only one game without Bosa since he recovered from knee surgery. While the team added Leonard Floyd in free agency and has activated Yetur Gross-Matos from IR, its pass rush will be compromised if Bosa cannot go.

The 49ers named Allen their backup QB to open the season, despite Dobbs momentum forming earlier in the offseason. It goes without saying a Purdy-to-Allen downgrade would be noticeable, even though the 49ers’ last two QB injuries (those to Trey Lance and Jimmy Garoppolo) did not lead to steps back. Allen, 32, signed with the 49ers shortly after the 2023 draft and became their third-stringer once the team traded Lance to the Cowboys. Allen re-signed this year. Unlike 2023 backup Sam Darnold, Allen may well need to start at least one game of consequence.

NFC West Notes: Seahawks, 49ers, Higbee

Signed to similar contracts during the summer of 2022, Deebo Samuel and D.K. Metcalf have each become two of the NFL’s better wide receivers — each being chosen in the 2019 second round. The Seahawks nabbed Metcalf at No. 64 via trade-up, and ESPN’s Adam Schefter notes the team had aimed to first draft Samuel at No. 35. GM John Schneider had worked out a trade-up from No. 37 to No. 35, via the Raiders, but Schefter adds the Silver and Black backed out of the deal. The Raiders instead dealt with the Jaguars, who drafted Jawaan Taylor at 35. The 49ers chose Samuel at 36.

The Seahawks still do not know why the Raiders reneged on the trade, Schefter adds. The Seahawks initially held a higher second-round choice than the Jags, who picked at 38. After Samuel went off the board, Seattle dealt 37 to Carolina (Greg Little) and drafted safety Marquise Blair at No. 47. The Seahawks had planned to pair Samuel and Metcalf, rather than the Ole Miss product — who famously fell to No. 64 after having teams divided during the pre-draft process — being a Samuel fallback option. Though, Metcalf as a WR contingency plan — with Doug Baldwin retirement rumors circulating during the draft — rather than pairing him with Samuel makes a bit more sense due to Tyler Lockett being just 27 at the time. Samuel and Metcalf are going into the final year of their contracts; each team rebuffed trade offers this year.

Here is the latest from the NFC West:

  • Samuel’s San Francisco status may have changed once Brandon Aiyuk suffered an ACL tear. The older 49ers WR had been a rumored 2025 trade chip, as the team prepares for a Brock Purdy payday. Although some around the league have wondered if the 49ers will pay Purdy the going rate (mentioning a Kirk Cousins trade as a backup plan), The Athletic’s Matt Barrows expects Purdy to indeed receive a top-market deal from San Francisco. Purdy going from Mr. Irrelevant to a deal in the $55-$60MM-per-year range would represent one of the most dramatic rises in NFL history; the 2025 offseason is the window for that to happen.
  • Staying on the 49ers-in-2025 theme, the team has seen promising early returns from second-round rookie Renardo Green. The 49ers have viewed Green as a player who can work inside and on the perimeter; that matches Deommodore Lenoir‘s profile. Lenoir is now signed long term, but All-Pro Charvarius Ward is in a contract year. With Lenoir locked in, Ward appears headed back to free agency. As such, Barrows adds Green should be considered the favorite to start opposite Lenoir on the boundary in 2025. Pro Football Focus rates Green as the sixth-best CB regular this season, albeit on only 298 snaps.
  • While Sean McVay said right tackle Rob Havenstein could be back this week, the eighth-year Rams HC indicated (via ESPN.com’s Sarah Barshop) Tyler Higbee remains weeks away from returning. Higbee is still rehabbing the ACL and MCL tears sustained during the Rams’ wild-card loss to the Lions. The ninth-year tight end remains on Los Angeles’ reserve/PUP list. Havenstein has missed the Rams’ past two games with an ankle issue.
  • Jake Moody missed time due to injury this season, being one of three 49ers kickers to go down, and did not impress upon return. Moody missed three field goals against the Buccaneers, prompting a heated Samuel to take issue with the recovered kicker (and long snapper Taybor Pepper). John Lynch said later the 49ers have not considered replacing Moody. “We didn’t blink,” Lynch told KNBR (h/t The Athletic’s David Lombardi). “We have a lot of faith in this kid. We all have rough days. There’s a lot of context to put in these things and Jake has earned a lot of respect from this organization.” Moody’s third-round contract runs through 2026.