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In the aftermath of Brock Purdy’s worst game of his career, former NFL general manager Michael Lombardi believes the San Francisco 49ers will never pay the quarterback $50 million annually.
However, the reason doesn’t stem from Purdy’s four-interception game or a midseason three-game slide. The 49ers simply won’t pay that much for a quarterback, Lombardi explained to Yahoo Sports’ Jason Fitz on the “Zero Blitz” podcast on Thursday.
“Whenever I look for an answer on these problems, ‘The Sopranos’ usually offers the best answer,” Lombardi said. “So in season one, Uncle Junior becomes the new boss and he’s taken all the money. And Tony has to have the meeting with them to tell them you’ve got to share.”
“You can’t be the guy who eats at the table all the time. That’s the same conversation you’re going to have to have with Brock Purdy. Brock, if you want 50 million, we’re not going to give it to you,” Lombardi continued. “If you want to stay here and be the quarterback of this team for the next 30 years, you want to be the Tom Brady, like he did, we can pay you that.”
Brady played 20 seasons for the New England Patriots and never earned more than $23 million in a season despite six Super Bowl wins in Foxborough. He had to leave New England to find his biggest payday with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for three seasons.
The final pick of the 2022 NFL Draft, Purdy will earn $889,252 this season and no more than $1.1 million in each of the next two years. San Francisco will need to make a decision on Purdy’s long-term value by 2026 when his rookie contract expires.
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San Francisco has cycled through quarterbacks in recent years amid three NFC Championship Game appearances since 2020. Jimmy Garoppolo led the way at first before the 49ers trade for and drafted Trey Lance followed by Purdy.
Lombardi notes that the 49ers’ building and finding a quarterback who “enhances the system” is working. It worked with Brady and New England for two decades but not with their AFC archrival.
“Brady took less money. Look, we know this,” Lombardi said. “Peyton Manning did not take a discount. They won one Super Bowl in Indianapolis. Why? I think a lot of it was because of the [salary] cap, right?”
Manning had big earning years in 2004 with $35 million and $26.4 million in 2011. Otherwise the Colts kept him between $11 million to $15 million for much of his time with Indy.
“They didn’t have a lot of cap flexibility. They were taking the chances. It’s inexcusable they won one,” Lombardi said. “They should have won 10 he’s so good. That’s how great he was.”
“But they didn’t. So I think you got to have that conversation. If you want to take all the money, it’s not going to work,” Lombardi added.
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Lombardi anticipates that Purdy is well aware that 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan would “go out and find another quarterback” if the asking price is too high.
“That is called team building. That’s what’s missing in the league. The worst place you want to be, Fitz, in the National Football League is we got to say to somebody, we can’t win without this player. When you do that, you’re doomed,” Lombardi said.
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