Kyle Shanahan & 49ers to Cut Brock Purdy Like Colin Kaepernick Despite $265M Contract Announcement – Report

Not Mr. Irrelevant anymore. After signing a five-year, $265-million extension with the 49ers, Brock Purdy’s future seems secure. He became the seventh in the league in the list of highest-paid QBs, and we expect to see him lead his team through 2030. But if the large deal and $181 million fully guaranteed isn’t enough proof that the 49ers have full confidence in the QB, the fact that a no-trade clause was added should do it.

With Purdy’s deal done, the team can now start building around him, knowing the kind of impact the QB can bring in with the right weapons. So it is important to first come to a decision regarding linebacker Fred Warner’s extension. The player has no guaranteed money left on his deal, which ends after the 2026 season. And as per NBC Sports Bay Area’s Jennifer Lee Chan on Sunday, the 49ers and Warner are close to striking a new deal, which could make him the highest-paid inside linebacker in the NFL. It’s a move that makes complete sense.

The 28-year-old has been playing at a high level. Owing to this, San Francisco spent this offseason planning and plotting a way of managing big contracts on their salary cap. They did some unloading to make more space. With Purdy locked in, Warner’s extension looking to be on the right track, the officials can focus more on the rest of the core. At least, that’s what it looks like on the outside. But according to PFT’s Mike Florio, a lot about Purdy’s contract remains unknown, and those fine prints that we have no knowledge of yet could be the ones that make or break the upcoming seasons.

“Here’s how this is going to go. Five-year $265 million extension, 53 million per year in new money, and less than I thought he was going to get. I thought they were going to put enough phony baloney stuff on the back end to get it up to 55 million or more. Here’s the reality. When you factor in what he was due to make this year, this is a six-year contract with a 45 million per year average. Remember that. The new money always is the thing that gets pushed because it makes the deal look better; It makes the agent look better. All that matters is the length of the contract,” Florio added, and shared that the current length of the contract wasn’t bad.

However, Florio believes that three factors will tell us how good the contract actually is:
1. What’s the signing bonus?
2. How much is fully guaranteed at signing?
3. And what is the cash flow for the first three years?

Well, we do have answers to one of those questions. SI’s Albert Breer has noted, “Purdy will get $215 million over the first four years.” But this didn’t convince Florio. Doubling down on it, he said, “Specifically, when can the 49ers get out of this deal? – once we find out whether or not the 49ers can make an easy or at least not impossible exit if Purdy regresses… Let’s see what this contract looks like when we dig into the details.” Purdy hasn’t exactly had a golden season. He got just 20 TDs and 3,864 yards last season. Add 12 INTs to that, and suddenly it looks like he’ll have a lot to prove this year. If Purdy’s performance doesn’t peak in 2025, things might start to look a little irrelevant again for him. And if history is any indication of the future, we may be looking at another scenario like Colin Kaepernick.

NFL histories draw up such interesting parallels that we can’t help but look back every time something new happens. Rolling into 2014, Colin Kaepernick had a record deal with the 49ers that made everyone in the league do a double-take. A $126 million, seven-year deal. Seven years to be the face of the franchise. It looked like Kaepernick would lead the 49ers through a blaze of glory. But it all dissolved rather quickly. After his performance declined and he got surrounded by controversies regarding his protest, he found himself staring down a dark corridor from which there was no return. After the three seasons, Kaepernick only got around $39.4 million from his contract and walked away.

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Collin opted out of his deal because he thought he would get another deal somewhere else

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Kaepernick only had two things written in stone. A salary north of $640,000 in 2014, and a $12.3 million signing bonus. Back then, reportedly, he had a $61 million guaranteed contract, but the fine print told a different story. It’s $61 million only if you suffer a career-ending injury. Whoa, right? So, naturally, analysts like Florio are skeptical about the Brock Purdy deal. They don’t want to know the numbers. They want to comb through the fine print to see what’s what.

As Florio put it, “Colin Kaepernick got a deal that was regarded as this awesome, spectacular thing. And then when the deal was broken down and the details came out, it’s like, somebody’s full of something on this.” So that’s it.

What do we know about Brock Purdy’s deal with the 49ers?

Well, not a lot is known about the fine print. However, an interesting aspect about his extension is that it includes a no-trade clause until the contract’s end. That means that QB will have complete control over his future.

If the 49ers and Purdy’s alliance doesn’t go as expected, the QB will retain the decision-making power over which team he goes to. Add the big amount of money he will be making, and it all looks perfect for the signal-caller. That’s good news, but like Florio said, the structuring of his contract and the fine print will matter at the end of the day, if things don’t work. The entire contract structure is not publicly available.

But for now, things look good for the QB. The 49ers have made a big bet on Brock Purdy. Whether it pays off or not, it will all depend on Kyle Shanahan’s offense. And, of course, his 2025 performance.

What do you think? Let us know in the comments below.