Why Shanahan is unbothered by ‘crazy’ QB market as Purdy payday looms
While Brock Purdy currently remains a steal for the 49ers on his rookie deal this season, the young quarterback is due for a lucrative contract extension in 2025 after thriving in San Francisco’s starting role.
The situation can seem overwhelming at first, Kyle Shanahan told The Athletic’s Tim Kawakami on Tuesday’s episode of “The TK Show,” but the 49ers coach tries not to concern himself with the numbers as the NFL’s quarterback market and salary cap continue to shift.
“I think because of where the market’s gone with the quarterback position, the dollars — that’s kind of crazy, those numbers,” Shanahan told Kawakami. “It’s kind of like when I look at the real estate out here and how much houses cost. I didn’t believe it at first … but you get out here, and as long as you can resell it and stuff, it’s all relative. It’s whatever, but the numbers are overwhelming.
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“So I get all that, but me [from] a coaching standpoint, I think about, obviously, how you fit it into a salary cap, where it is going, but I don’t get caught up on, ‘Well, that’s how much a starting quarterback costs.’ … Are you happy with someone as your starting quarterback? If you are, are you happy with them as a rookie? Are you happy with them on a rookie contract? Great. Are you happy with them when you’ve got to pay them?
“Well, how do you compare him to everyone else? He’s a starting quarterback in this league, and what does he cost? Then you look at it, and that’s kind of where I keep it.”
Purdy will earn just over $930,000 during the 2024 NFL season as the last overall pick of the 2022 draft, and as signal-callers like Trevor Lawrence and Joe Burrow — the league’s highest-paid at the position — rake in $55 million a year, Shanahan and general manager John Lynch have to consider what Purdy, an MVP finalist last season, will command when his time comes.
And despite the exorbitant cost of quality quarterbacks these days, Shanahan said he just deals with it.
