San Francisco 49ers

Gruden Claims Purdy Deserves a Top Contract: ‘He Saved the 49ers!

Posted on by newssite

The looming question over the 49ers’ offseason is how much they’re willing to pay quarterback Brock Purdy.

While the discussions will continue, former Las Vegas Raiders coach Jon Gruden believes there’s no debate on Purdy’s worth — specifically pointing out how he salvaged what could’ve been a disastrous quarterback scenario for San Francisco.

“They should build a statue of him in San Francisco,” Gruden told The SF Niners on Friday morning at Radio Row in New Orleans. “He covered their ass, man. They give up three first-round draft choices to get a guy they got rid of. You guys have him in Dallas. And this guy’s the last pick in the draft, he’s taking you to the Super Bowl, he’s taking it to the brink.

“He deserves to get paid and I’ll just leave it at that.”

Not only does Gruden believe Purdy deserves top dollar this offseason, but he views the 25-year-old as already cementing his legacy in the Bay Area.

The former head coach is referring to San Francisco trading three first-round draft picks to select Trey Lance No. 3 overall in the 2021 NFL Draft in a move that was supposed to land them their franchise quarterback of the future.

Of course, that didn’t end up being the case when injuries and limited progression forced San Francisco to trade Lance to the Dallas Cowboys for a 2024 fourth-round pick. So, essentially they gave up three first-rounders for one fourth-rounder. Yikes.

It was a franchise-changing decision that should’ve and would’ve cost some people their jobs, but that’s when Purdy enters the picture.

In 2022, Lance’s second season and Purdy’s rookie year, the former was named the starting quarterback over Jimmy Garoppolo. However, Lance fractured his ankle and had season-ending surgery in just Week 2 of the campaign, leading to Garoppolo taking over under center before the veteran signal-caller suffered his own injury in Week 13.

Now down their top two quarterbacks, the 49ers turned to Purdy — the 262nd “Mr. Irrelevant” pick to jump into the game and save their season.

He did. The then-rookie led San Francisco to the NFC Championship Game before sustaining a significant elbow injury in the gutwrenching loss that required offseason surgery. When he returned for his second season in 2023 and was named the starter, he led the 49ers to Super Bowl LVIII, where they fell just short to the Kansas City Chiefs.

The rest is still being written, of course, but as Lynch said in the past: “Thank God for Mr. Irrelevant.”

That’s the understatement of the century.

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