Chargers look brilliant after Brock Purdy’s 49ers extension

Nobody batted an eye when Justin Herbert signed a five-year, $262.5 million contract with the LA Chargers prior to the 2023 season. Herbert earned his massive pay day as he quickly established himself as one of the best quarterbacks in the entire league.

The same cannot be said about Brock Purdy. Purdy recently signed an extension of his own with the San Francisco 49ers and the reactions have been mixed. For some, this is the nail in the 49ers' coffin as the team won't be able to spend much around Purdy moving forward.

One thing is for certain: Purdy's contract makes Herbert's look like fine wine. The 49ers signed Purdy to a five-year, $265 million contract with a full no-trade clause. And just like that, Herbert looks like he is underpaid.

Justin Herbert's Chargers deal looks even better after Brock Purdy's massive contract

Did the 49ers overpay for Brock Purdy? Definitely. But that is the nature of the quarterback position. Quarterbacks get paid top-tier money and the market continues to grow. It doesn't matter that Purdy is a worse quarterback than Herbert, he gets whatever the market value is at that point in time.

The current market value netted Purdy more money than Herbert signed in his five-year deal. That is quite staggering when comparing where Herbert and Purdy rank among the NFL hierarchy. Herbert is one of the best in the league, Purdy is polarizing because of the situation he came into.

Herbert now has the sixth-highest contract given out to a quarterback in NFL history. Purdy joins Joe Burrow, Trevor Lawrence, Josh Allen and Patrick Mahomes as the QBs who have received more from their teams. Some of those names make sense. Others, including Purdy, do not.

This is a prime example of why it is imperative to sign players to contract extensions as soon as possible. The longer a team waits, the more the market value is going to go up. By signing a player proactively, it ensures that contract will age gracefully as other players sign their new deals (especially when those players are worse).

Hopefully, the Chargers recognize this and adopt the same mindset with Rashawn Slater. Slater could have signed an extension by now but hasn't. The longer the Chargers wait, the more expensive that price is going to be.