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Nick Wagoner, ESPN Staff Writer
SANTA CLARA, Calif. — After a stressful sprint through free agency in mid-March, San Francisco 49ers general manager John Lynch was eager to get out of the office for a change of scenery.
Upon consulting with director of player personnel Tariq Ahmad, Lynch headed to Ann Arbor, Michigan, for the University of Michigan’s pro day last week. As 18 prospective NFL prospects went through their workouts, Lynch sidled up to Wolverines quarterback J.J. McCarthy.
In recent years, the sight of Lynch and McCarthy chatting would have set off alarms about the Niners’ plans for the game’s most important position. It also would have been a familiar scene, because for the better part of the past seven years, the Niners have been front and center when it comes to NFL quarterback quandaries.
But Lynch and McCarthy’s interaction had nothing to do with McCarthy as a potential 49ers addition. Instead, the pair talked about their shared background, as McCarthy started his high school football career at Nazareth Academy in LaGrange Park, Illinois, the same school Lynch’s mom, Cathy, attended.
For at least this year, there is no quarterback drama to be found in 49ers-land, where Brock Purdy has firmly established himself as the starter for the foreseeable future, with veteran backups Brandon Allen and Joshua Dobbs set to battle for the No. 2 job.
“To have that belief in Brock, to have that stability and then have two backups that we like that we’re going to let compete,” Lynch said. “It is very nice to be able to focus on the other parts of your roster.”
While the Niners haven’t ignored the other parts of their roster in recent years — they’ve been to at least the NFC Championship Game in four of the past five seasons despite the consistent QB questions — the signal-caller conversation has dominated every offseason since Lynch and coach Kyle Shanahan arrived in 2017.
To recap:
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In 2017, the Niners declined to use a top-2 pick on a quarterback such as Patrick Mahomes, adding veteran Brian Hoyer as a placeholder with the intent to sign pending free agent Kirk Cousins the following offseason. Those plans were scuttled when the team traded for Jimmy Garoppolo in October 2017.
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San Francisco signed Garoppolo to a five-year, $137.5 million contract in 2018, making him the highest-paid player in the league after just five 49ers starts. Despite that, Shanahan acknowledged the team still considered making a run at Cousins.
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Garoppolo tore the ACL in his left knee in Week 3 of the 2018 season. The Niners stood by their quarterback but had plenty of questions about how he’d bounce back.
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For the only time in the Shanahan/Lynch era, one quarterback started every regular-season game in 2019, as Garoppolo rebounded from the injury and helped the Niners advance to Super Bowl LIV to face the Chiefs. However, Garoppolo struggled in the postseason and couldn’t put Kansas City away despite being staked to a 10-point fourth-quarter lead. Those struggles resulted in the Niners strongly considering signing free agent Tom Brady before sticking with Garoppolo.
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Garoppolo missed 10 games due to injury in 2020. No longer content in hoping he could stay healthy and lead a talented roster to a Lombardi Trophy, the Niners sought to reset the clock at the position. They kept Garoppolo but dealt three first-round picks to the Dolphins to move from No. 12 to No. 3 and select North Dakota State QB Trey Lance in the 2021 draft. Before selecting Lance, they made a draft-weekend call to the Packers to check on Aaron Rodgers‘ availability.
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Garoppolo continued as the starter in 2021 while Lance learned, playing through injuries in the postseason. The 49ers squandered a 10-point lead to the Rams in the NFC Championship Game and Garoppolo threw an interception on the final drive to seal their defeat.
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That offseason, the Niners planned to deal Garoppolo and install Lance as the starter, but shoulder surgery tanked Garoppolo’s trade market. He eventually returned at a reduced rate to be Lance’s backup. Both quarterbacks suffered season-ending injuries, opening the door for Purdy, the final pick of the 2022 draft, in early December.
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Purdy took the team and league by storm, going 7-0 as a starter before tearing the UCL in his right elbow in the NFC Championship Game loss to the Eagles. The uncertainty of that injury led to the Niners again checking in with Brady last offseason. Brady retired and Purdy managed to return at close to full strength at the outset of training camp.
The Niners’ belief in Purdy was cemented as far back as December 2022, but his return from the elbow injury and subsequent performance in helping them to Super Bowl LVIII bolstered that confidence.
Purdy started a combined 19 games last season, only missing the regular-season finale because the 49ers had locked up the NFC’s top seed. He set a franchise record for passing yards (4,280) and became the first Niners quarterback since Jeff Garcia in 2001 to throw 30-plus touchdown passes in a season (31) on his way to his first Pro Bowl nod.
That leaves only one current quarterback question for the 49ers: How much better can Purdy be with the benefit of a full, healthy offseason?
“He just got married, he’s fully healthy, he’s going to come back here in a couple of weeks and we’ll get going,” Shanahan said. “I’m just pumped to be able to go through the film with him and to be on the field with him, which he hasn’t had a chance to do yet in his career.”
When the Niners start their offseason program, it will be Purdy’s first chance to go through the spring both healthy and as the starter.
Shanahan says that will be beneficial because he and Purdy have a full season’s worth of reps to review and can use his on-field time to work on things they see on tape. The goal, according to Shanahan, is that Purdy can become “more consistent with everything.”
If Purdy can do that and continue building on his successful second season, the Niners will have a more welcome, different kind of quarterback drama next offseason: signing Purdy to a contract extension that will result in one of the biggest raises in league history.
Because he was the final pick of the 2022 draft, Purdy is set to make only $985,000 in 2024 and will be eligible for an extension for the first time after next season. The Niners are already preparing to multiply that number at least 40 times over.
“I think it’s a good problem when your quarterback is one of your highest paid guys on your team and in the league,” owner Jed York said. “It’s not like Brock is going to ask for something that no one has ever asked for before …
“The market has changed. And whether I like it or not, that’s what the market is. And you have to accept the reality of the world. The quarterback is the most important position, not just in football, but in all sports. And those guys should be paid a lot of money.”
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