49ers insider shares when Brock Purdy extension 'probably' should get done

Multiple reports shared this month have indicated that "there's a significant gap between the amount of money that" quarterback Brock Purdy wants and what the San Francisco 49ers have thus far offered him throughout ongoing negotiations. 

During a recent appearance on San Francisco sports radio station KNBR, 49ers reporter Cam Inman of the Bay Area News Group offered a timeline for when the club should want to get the Purdy deal done with the 25-year-old now in the final year of his inexpensive rookie contract. 

"To me, it just needs to get done probably right after the draft because they start the offseason program in mid-April," Inman explained, per David Bonilla of 49ers WebZone. "But those first couple weeks are strictly strength training, and you're not on the field with [head coach Kyle Shanahan] and Klay Kubiak, who's now the offensive coordinator, until you're like two weeks into that. So I'm talking like early May. And, to me, that's when it's most important that Brock's signed, sealed and delivered, because you don't need to be dragging this out for another month to save some pennies."

Tristi Rodriguez of NBC Bay Area noted that NFL Media's Ian Rapoport reported this past Tuesday that no agreement between Purdy and the 49ers was "imminent" as of that time. However, Tashan Reed of The Athletic has since said that recently-acquired Las Vegas Raiders signal-caller Geno Smith could put pen to paper on his upcoming extension before St. Patrick's Day rolls around. According to Bob Condotta of the Seattle Times, who was citing a person with knowledge of the situation, the Seattle Seahawks previously offered Smith "a two-year deal in the $40-45M per year range." 

A 2023 regular-season Most Valuable Player Award finalist who nearly became a Super Bowl champion in February 2024, Purdy will almost certainly receive more money than Smith at some point this spring. 

"The guy needs to be making over $50M a year, and I'm not going to get into a fight whether he deserves it or not," Inman said about Purdy. "That is the market rate for a top-tier NFL quarterback. However deep you want that tier to be, whether it's five, 10 or 15 [quarterbacks], that's what he deserves to be making."

There's still no sign talks between Purdy and the 49ers have gotten ugly, and it's possible the two sides could work things out days after details of Smith's extension go public. As of the second Friday of March, it remains likely that the Niners will lock Purdy down before mandatory minicamps get underway later this spring.