According to multiple reports on Friday evening, the San Francisco 49ers have agreed to a hefty contract extension with quarterback Brock Purdy. It's a five-year deal worth $265 million. The 49ers had made it clear that they intended to reward Purdy for his efforts thus far and keep him in San Francisco for the long haul, and that's exactly what they did.
While this contract does not reset the quarterback market, Purdy is now one of the ten highest-paid quarterbacks in the NFL, earning more than two-time MVP Lamar Jackson, Super Bowl MVP Jalen Hurts, and even Patrick Mahomes.
The quarterback market is only going to grow
In fairness to Purdy, he's far outplayed his draft status, being the very last selection in the 2022 NFL draft. He is clearly a capable NFL starter and deserves to be paid like one. The problem for general managers is that quarterbacks have become so important that, as long as a player isn't straight up awful, they're going to get a hefty contract extension.
From the Miami Dolphins to the Green Bay Packers and now the San Francisco 49ers, teams have proven in recent years that they are completely unwilling to risk losing even a mediocre level of quarterbacking. So even though they haven't brought home any trophies, quarterbacks Jordan Love and Tua Tagovailoa got paid like All-Pros, and Purdy just joined their club.
Caleb is going to get paid. The only question is how much?
What does this mean for the Chicago Bears? Well, for chairman George McCaskey, it means that he needs to start setting money aside to pay Caleb Williams in a few years. Williams still needs to prove himself on the field, but he's already put together one of the best seasons in franchise history, and he did that as a rookie in the midst of a chaotic coaching staff.
Williams is going to get paid. It's not a question of if, but how much. If he reaches his full potential, that of a perennial All-Pro and MVP, he could become the first quarterback to earn $70 million AAV. But even if he plateaus after this year, he's already shown himself, like Purdy, to be a capable NFL starter, which is good enough to become Chicago's highest-paid quarterback in history by a wide margin.
That will change everything about the team's salary cap situation, which is why it's so important for the Bears to win now while Williams is on a rookie deal. Unless Williams is willing, like Mahomes or Tom Brady, to take a steep discount (don't count on it), he's going to end up taking up over $50 million worth of cap space very soon.
GM Ryan Poles must keep this in mind as he prepares potential extensions for other deserving players. Darnell Wright will be eligible after this season, and Rome Odunze the next year, too, which is another position group that has exploded in value in recent years.
Make no mistake: this is a good problem to have, and it's the kind of good problem that Chicago hasn't had to worry about in well over a decade. It will simply force Poles to get creative with the salary cap and might force the Bears' ownership to look into selling a stake in the team to get some cash flow as other franchises have done.
Good quarterbacks don't come cheap, and the Bears finally have one.
