Brock Purdy will earn just $985,000 in base salary with the 49ers for the 2024 season, ranking him 57th among NFL quarterbacks. His four-year rookie contract is even lower on average, at $934,252, which ranks him 79th among quarterbacks in the league.

However, this will be the last season in which Purdy, the No. 262 overall pick and final seventh-round selection in the 2022 NFL Draft, is paid like an unproven backup after putting together two great seasons as San Francisco’s starter.

By early 2025, Purdy could go from being a bargain-basement prospect to a highly relevant and significant contract, ranking among the highest-paid players in the NFL. The 49ers know they have to act as quarterback salaries continue to rise rapidly following an offseason in which several young quarterbacks received lucrative contract extensions.

Purdy’s earnings are very limited. With another outstanding season of deep passes and the 49ers as strong Super Bowl contenders, Purdy can even rebalance the market. Here’s how little Purdy has earned so far and how much his next contract could be:

Brock Purdy’s contract history

Purdy will turn 25 at the end of 2024. In 2022, he signed a four-year rookie contract worth $3.737 million, with only $77,008 guaranteed. He would become a free agent in 2026, but the 49ers will have to deal with his new contract by the middle of next offseason, assuming he plays this well again.

If he plays through 2025 without a new contract, Purdy would receive a base salary of $1.1 million plus $19,252 prorated from his guaranteed salary. This is a highly unlikely scenario.

The 49ers have $45 million in salary cap space for 2024 after giving two of Purdy’s key backers — left tackle Trent Williams and wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk — lucrative new contracts. They are expected to have more than $50 million under salary cap space for 2025, putting them in a good position to take care of Purdy early.

Contract forecast for Brock Purdy

Purdy will not meet Patrick Mahomes’ 10-year contract term, but he can meet the key parameters of average annual salary and guaranteed salary with his new contract.

Dak Prescott reset the market on Sunday, commanding an average annual value of $60 million on his four-year, $240 million contract. Joe Burrow, Jordan Love and Trevor Lawrence are all tied for second place, averaging $55 million per season on their recent new contracts. Burrow and Lawrence, who were the No. 1 overall draft picks in 2020 and 2021, respectively, are also tied for second place with a total contract value of $275 million, well behind Mahomes’ $450 million longer-term mark.

Burrow, Love, Lawrence, Jalen Hurts, Justin Herbert, Lamar Jackson and Kyler Murray all received five-year contract extensions. Prescott and Tua Tagovailoa’s contract with the Dolphins was for four years.

In terms of total guaranteed money, Prescott was guaranteed $231 million of his $240 million deal, and Deshaun Watson was guaranteed his entire $230 million over five years by the Browns. Then comes Burrow at $219 million and Herbert at $218.738 million. The only other QB in the $200 million club is Lawrence, and that’s his exact guaranteed number as well.

Purdy is likely to be the highest-paid quarterback (and player) in the league as early as January.

Purdy, like Burrow, has already played in a Super Bowl, and another solid, top-notch season will show he deserves a massive boost in performance to make up for his extremely cheap performance with the 49ers. Aiyuk got four years, but other 49ers stars like Nick Bosa and Fred Warner all signed five-year deals in their prime mid-20s.

That suggests Purdy has a five-year, $280 million minimum contract that will pay him an average annual salary of at least $56 million per season. After Prescott’s $60 million AAV, that number could easily rise to five years and more than $300 million. Based on Burrow and Lawrence, not Prescott, Purdy should have 70-80 percent of his contract guaranteed. That would put Purdy at around $220-225 million guaranteed, slightly more than Burrow.

Because of his unique draft status relative to his excellent play, Purdy is expected to get about 60 times what he makes now in a season, or a ridiculous but worthy unprecedented raise.