The quarterback market sure has changed since last year.
The New York Giants just signed veteran quarterback Russell Wilson to a one-year, $20 million deal with $10.5 million guaranteed according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter. Call this bargain-bin shopping in the NFL.
For the first time in years, NFL teams seem extremely reluctant to shell out huge sums of cash to quarterbacks who aren’t clearly elite. This isn’t great news for Brock Purdy, who’s eligible for a contract extension and seems to want nearly $60 million per season even though he’s coming off a down season.
Just two years ago, the Giants gave Daniel Jones a four-year, $120 million contract. This past season, they released him. And this year, they’re still carrying more than $22 million in dead cap penalties for cutting him. It seems the Giants learned their lesson.
Have the 49ers?
In 2018, they made Jimmy Garoppolo the highest-paid quarterback in the NFL at the time because he had won his first seven starts. But by 2020, the 49ers wanted to get rid of him, and so they mortgaged the future to trade up for Trey Lance. Fortunately for them, Brock Purdy bailed them out a year later.
But now Purdy wants the big bucks. And he hasn’t proven he’s worth it. He doesn’t seem to be a quarterback who elevates the team around him. He seems like a quarterback who can be elevated by a great supporting cast, similar to Garoppolo. But Purdy won’t have a great supporting cast if he’s taking up more than 20 percent of the 49ers cap space.
The 49ers better be careful. They’re one bad contract away from being the Giants.
