Pro Football Talk's Mike Florio recently weighed in on Brock Purdy, labeling the San Francisco 49ers quarterback as "middle-of-the-pack"—a designation he insists isn't meant as an insult. The 49ers just reached a five-year, $265 million agreement with Purdy, making him one of the highest-paid players in the NFL, as expected. Still, the deal has sparked debate over whether Purdy is truly worth the investment.
In many ways, the contract represents a win-win. The 49ers lock in their franchise quarterback through 2030, while Purdy secures a well-earned financial reward after being one of the NFL's best bargains for the past three seasons.
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Florio, however, remains skeptical that Purdy will ever develop into a truly elite quarterback. Yet, he sees value in where the young signal-caller currently ranks.
"There's nothing wrong with being middle-of-the-pack," Florio said Monday morning on Bay Area radio station 95.7 The Game. "If he's number 16, right dead in the middle, there's only 15 quarterbacks in the world who are better than the guy who was the last pick of the 2022 draft. That's a major accomplishment.
"The challenge has always been, how do you properly reward, financially, a guy who is up for a new contract but isn't one of the top-five quarterbacks in the NFL.
"And Brock Purdy will never be one of the top five quarterbacks in the NFL. The question is: Will he be top 10? A lot of that is driven by accomplishment."
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And in terms of accomplishments, Purdy has delivered early. He helped lead the 49ers to back-to-back NFC Championship appearances and a Super Bowl berth in his first two seasons. In 2023, he set a franchise single-season passing record with 4,280 yards. It was no surprise his new contract would place him among the league's highest earners.
To make room for Purdy's massive extension, the 49ers had to make tough decisions this offseason, trimming roster costs and betting on younger talent from the draft to fill new vacancies.
Florio also noted that while the deal includes $53 million annually in new money, tying him with Jared Goff as the NFL's seventh-highest-paid player, the additional earnings from the deal being tacked onto his 2025 earnings bring the average closer to $45 million per season.
Florio believes that over time, the contract will better reflect where Purdy's place is in the NFL quarterback hierarchy.
"I would suggest, within a few years, that contract is going to truly be middle of the pack," Florio added. "... With Purdy, I still think we have to see how this all plays out. Look at how they played last year with all the injuries and everything. We've seen plenty of quarterbacks out there, great quarterbacks, who have overcome that and taken the team to the playoffs. The record down the stretch last year was not good.
"So I think that we've yet to know how it's going to break, how his career is going to break."
You can listen to Florio's entire interview below.
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