NBC Sports Bay Area caught up with ESPN's Dan Orlovsky in New Orleans ahead of Super Bowl LIX to discuss San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy. The young signal-caller is eligible for his first contract extension after playing three seasons on a team-friendly rookie deal. In 2025, Purdy will earn just over $5 million due to a performance-based bonus—a figure far below his perceived market value.
Purdy had a record-breaking 2023 season, but his 2024 performance dipped as injuries plagued the 49ers, leaving him without key offensive weapons like Brandon Aiyuk and Christian McCaffrey.
The debate over Purdy's value has been a hot topic among fans and analysts. Some question whether he has shown enough to carry a team through adversity and justify a top-market salary. Others argue his early success—helping lead the 49ers to two NFC Championship Games and a Super Bowl—proves he's worthy of a massive payday.
"I think a lot of the variables around Brock affected him in a negative way—the health of the offensive line, the health of the skill players," Orlovsky told Jennifer Lee-Chan. "And I think that got him off his game a little bit."
According to Orlovsky, Purdy's "superpower" is his ability to anticipate where his receivers will be and deliver the ball with pinpoint accuracy. However, that skill was less evident in 2024 due to the lack of chemistry with some of his pass-catchers.
"I think it's a little bit of the comfort level of—Ricky Pearsall, I don't have the reps built in with him, so he's new," Orlovsky said. "And then Aiyuk goes down. So these receivers that I'm throwing to, it takes a lot of trust for a quarterback to stand there and throw the ball 18 yards downfield to a spot none of your guys are at."
While Orlovsky doesn't view Purdy's 2024 season as a regression, he believes the diminished chemistry with his teammates affected his performance. Still, he doesn't see it as a long-term issue.
"My expectation would be, as long as [he's] healthy next year, that the Brock that we've become accustomed to will be what we see," Orlovsky said.
Regarding Purdy's future contract, Orlovsky is confident the quarterback will eventually secure a lucrative deal.
"Yeah, I think you pay him the mega contract," Orlovsky commented. "Where that gets to, I don't—paying a guy like Brock top-five [money] is a dice roll because we only have four or five guys in our league that are just going to carry [teams], and even them, they need help.
"I don't know if we've seen Brock to be that guy, but we have seen, you put the right pieces around Brock, and he can get you to title games and championships.
"So, I do think that you pay him that mega contract that those really, really, really good quarterbacks that kind of trend on top-five, top-seven level, I think you pay those guys."
