The San Francisco 49ers are in a tough spot. After finishing fourth in the NFC West last season with a 6-11 record, the team has has seen many stalwart players leave this offseason.
Niners owner Jed York has said that these moves needed to happen as the team prepares to pay Brock Purdy, but a three-time Super Bowl champion doesn’t appreciate the team seemingly blaming the mass exodus on Purdy’s asking price.
Former NFL OL Calls Out 49ers Owner For Blaming ‘Exodus’ of Players on Brock Purdy’s Next Deal
Purdy has been one of the NFL’s great success stories, going from Mr. Irrelevant in the 2022 NFL Draft to starting in Super Bowl 58.
Purdy has established himself as one of the top quarterbacks in the league, and he finished the 2024 season with a QB+ grade of 87.6, which ranked No. 7 in the NFL. To put Purdy’s excellent play in context, this was actually the lowest QB+ grade of his NFL career.
Last season, Purdy ranked fifth in the NFL in overall EPA/DB (0.17). He was the fourth-best QB when playing under pressure (-0.08 EPA/DB) and sixth-best when playing from a clean pocket (0.33 EPA/DB). Despite all the injuries around him on offense, Purdy still averaged 8.1 nYPA (ranking third) and a 44.3% conversion rate on third downs (ranking eighth).
The 2025 season marks the final year of Purdy’s rookie contract, with the QB set to make just over $5.3 million. That’s the best deal in the NFL right now, but the 49ers have been unable to win a Super Bowl with their quarterback being so cheap.
In preparation for Purdy’s big raise, the 49ers let several well-known players leave in free agency this offseason. Dre Greenlaw, Charvarius Ward, and Talanoa Hufanga are all gone. They also let Jordan Mason walk and traded Deebo Samuel to the Washington Commanders.
York says the team needs to clear cap space to pay Purdy, but three-time Super Bowl champion Mark Schlereth disagrees. On a recent episode of “The Stinkin’ Truth Podcast,” the former offensive lineman called out the 49ers’ owner.
Mark Schlereth is spitting 100 percent facts about Brock Purdy being paid, Jauan Jennings physical play, and the direction the 49ers are going
🎥: @markschlereth pic.twitter.com/eq1P8wCZwa
— Coach Yac 🗣 (@Coach_Yac) April 4, 2025
“That’s bulls**t. I love Jed York. Jed is a nice guy, but it’s not Brock Purdy’s responsibility to manage the 49ers’ cap. It’s the 49ers’ responsibility to manage that,” Schlereth said. “I’m a big Brock Purdy fan. But this is the plan.
“You talk about all these guys, this mass exodus. Here’s what happened. They had a bunch of injuries last year, and they had guys that replaced those injured guys. They came to the realization that, ‘You know what? The guys that replaced the injured guys, they’re young, they’re inexpensive, and by the way, they’re really good.’”
Last season, the 49ers had the NFL’s ninth-best offense, according to PFSN’s Offense+ metric. Entering 2025, that unit remains mostly intact despite losing Mason and Samuel. However, the defense was decimated by injuries and finished No. 26 in PFSN’s Defense+ metric.
That’s where the majority of departures have come from, but the 49ers are spinning this massive roster overhaul as a consequence of Purdy’s big payday rather than a chance to get younger and better. This was a top-10 unit each year between 2019 and 2023, but San Francisco slipped to its worst season-long ranking since the Defense+ metric began.
The Niners were 28th in EPA per rush and 25th in rushing success rate. Unlike past years, they couldn’t prop that up with an effective pass defense, where they ranked 25th in success rate.
Blaming Purdy for jettisoning multiple established defenders is a bad message to send by San Francisco’s management group. Niners GM John Lynch has done a great job of molding his team since he arrived in 2017, but he could be headed for the hot seat if the team stumbles again in 2025.
By pushing this narrative, the front office is essentially putting a target on Purdy’s back before he even signs his massive new contract, as any struggles would likely be blamed on him for seeking a lucrative payday.
Purdy deserves to be paid like one of the top quarterbacks in the league, but he doesn’t deserve the blame for the 49ers’ mass exodus of talent this offseason.