With Super Bowl aspirations in the locker room, the San Francisco 49ers endured a nightmare season in 2024, finishing last in the NFC West with a disappointing 6-11 record and missing the playoffs for the first time since 2020. Now, the team is looking to bounce back in 2025.
As part of a major offseason roster overhaul, the 49ers made a significant financial commitment to quarterback Brock Purdy, signing him to a five-year, $265 million contract extension. The deal makes Purdy one of the highest-paid players in the NFL and cements him as the team's franchise quarterback for the foreseeable future.
But what if that move backfires?
Bleacher Report's Brad Gagnon recently outlined each NFL team's "nightmare" scenario for the upcoming season. For the 49ers, it's a steep decline in performance from their now highly paid signal-caller.
"Just after landing a big-money long-term contract, Brock Purdy continues to regress significantly with a depleted supporting cast, and the 49ers find themselves handcuffed for years to come," Gagnon wrote.
Gagnon's wording—"continues to regress"—suggests he wasn't impressed with Purdy's 2024 performance, as the quarterback was coming off a record-breaking 2023 campaign in which he threw for a single-season franchise-best 4,280 yards.
While the 2024 season didn't match those numbers, Purdy wasn't the root of the team's struggles. Injuries to key players like Christian McCaffrey and Brandon Aiyuk played a significant role in the 49ers' offensive decline. Still, Purdy ranked fifth in the NFL in passing yards per game (257.6), third in yards per attempt (8.5), seventh in QBR (67.9), and maintained a solid 2.6% interception rate—nearly identical to his 2023 mark of 2.5%.
The most noticeable dip came in his touchdown production. Purdy's touchdown rate fell from 7.0% in 2023 to just 4.4% in 2024, resulting in only 20 touchdown passes, down from 31 the year prior.
Despite the pressure that comes with a massive contract, Purdy remains grounded and focused on self-improvement.
"I have to go out there and be sharper than I was yesterday on a lot of things and push the limit with other guys around me and help them get better," Purdy said this week. "So that's what I'm focusing on. It's not necessarily I step out in the field, and I'm on my second contract now, and it feels good, this and that. It's, dude, you'll get humbled really quick. So I just got to always remind myself of that and keep pushing myself in that way."
The 49ers are counting on Purdy to silence the critics in 2025 and avoid living out the nightmare scenario Bleacher Report described.