NFL QBs get paid. Period

In the offseason, the 49ers inked Purdy to a five-year, $265 contract, that averages out to $53 million a year, which does not kick in until next season. The team had identified as Purdy as their guy and they paid him fair-market value.

Unreasonable 49ers fans: can the team trade him? Why pay $52 million to a guy that is very similar to his backup, who is on a two-year, $8.5-million deal?

Because that is not how this works. For years, the 49ers have been looking for their next franchise quarterback. There was a brief time when Jimmy Garoppolo was it. The team made him the highest paid quarterback in the NFL — for a year or two, anyway. He was quickly trumped by the deal Patrick Mahomes signed in 2020 with the Chiefs and the 49ers had an easy out in Garoppolo’s deal.

Turns out Jimmy G wasn’t the answer the team was looking for. Turns out Purdy became that guy.

And this is when you run into the NFL’s quarterback problem. The face of teams at the most important position in the sport, a team must identify who that is and then he has to be paid accordingly. That means starting at about $40 and going up.

So when it was time to re-up Purdy, the 49ers’ choices were simple: pay Purdy commiserate to a player who guided a team to two NFC title games and a Super Bowl appearance.

Or...

Move on and find someone else.

For the sake of argument, let’s say the 49ers passed on signing Purdy. That would either have forced the team to trade him, because Purdy most certainly would have held out this season going into the final year of his rookie deal. Or, he leaves as a free agent at the end of the season.

So let’s say the team traded Purdy and brought in Jones as the new starter for the same contract he has now. Let’s say Jones leads the 49ers to a 12-5 record and gets to the NFC championship game.

What happens next year? Jones wants a new deal that is line with other starting quarterbacks. Do you think Jones is worth $52 million? Because he could command money like that with his career resurrected.

And 49ers fans would probably balk at that. He can’t be worth that kind of money, let’s get someone cheaper. And the chase begins again.

At some point, a team has to identify who their quarterback is and that player is going to get paid a boatload of money. That’s the way the game operates.

So the big question for 49ers fans is: which would you choose? A guy that has a proven track record of success, or the guy who is on his third team in five year who has had a nice, three-game run?

NFL teams needs stability at the quarterback spot. At some point, a team needs to make a decision. They can’t keep moving to different quarterbacks every year in order to keep costs down. The simply fact of the matter is, NFL starting quarterbacks eventually command huge money. 49ers fans should simply be happy their team has two legitimate starting NFL quarterbacks. I’d bet 31 other teams can’t say the same.

***

Piggy-backing off of Tuesday’s column, I found a couple more county players, who I covered, that are currently playing in the NFL. A pair of former Serra standouts — offensive lineman Antonio “Nio” Mafi and defensive lineman Matt Dickerson.

Mafi (a 2018 grad) and Dickerson (2014) both played at UCLA before being drafted. Mafi was drafted by New England in 2023 and made five starts. Last year he was with Indianopolis and is currently on the Raiders’ practice squad.

Dickerson was drafted by Tennessee in 2018 and made 18 appearances over three seasons. In six NFL seasons with four teams, he’s appeared in 40 games.

Nathan Mollat has been covering high school sports in San Mateo County for the San Mateo Daily Journal. since 2001. He can be reached by email: nathan@smdailyjournal.com.