The San Francisco 49ers are at a crossroads as the 2025 NFL Draft looms.
Brock Purdy, their underpaid starting quarterback, is chasing a bumper new deal.
The final selection of the 2022 draft has been playing for peanuts in recent years, and he’s due a massive pay increase.
Any deal Purdy strikes will likely land north of $50million per year — potentially $250million over the course of a five-year extension — more than ten times the $5m salary he’s set to make in 2025 under his NFL rookie deal.
Talks between the two parties are said to be advancing, but a long-term contract extension has not yet been finalized.
Amid the uncertainty in San Francisco, and emerging discourse around draft prospect Shedeur Sanders, ESPN analyst Peter Schrager has floated an interesting theory.
There is growing suggestion that Sanders, who came out of the 2024 college football season as the projected No. 1 pick, could fall much further down the board.
Fellow quarterback Cam Ward is now expected to be called first in Thursday night’s draft, while Shedeur’s stock continues to slide.
Some mocks even have him going in the second round, falling out of the first round entirely after a disaster interview.
And according to Schrager, if he’s still on the board that late, he could be an option for San Francisco.
Speaking on Wednesday’s episode of the Bill Simmons podcast, the ESPN broadcaster was asked to name a ‘crazy’ landing spot for Sanders that he could see happening, and mentioned that the 49ers were a dark horse.
“Not at 11,” he began, noting San Francisco’s first round pick.
“But if you’re telling me Shedeur is still on the board at 30, 31, 32, and we’ve got Brock Purdy talking about what he wants, does San Francisco pull the plug?
“Just say, screw it, we’ll take two young quarterbacks? We’ll see, Maybe.”
Simmons then clarified that San Francisco wouldn’t take Sanders at 11, but could trade back to secure him.
The suggestion that San Francisco could move for Shedeur seemed impossible just weeks ago, but the 49ers will no doubt be keeping a close eye on how the first round unfolds on Thursday night.
At this moment in time, most teams will view Purdy as a better quarterback than Sanders, given what he has already achieved in the NFL.
He has also attended 49ers workouts, despite the contract stalemate.
But in San Francisco, Purdy will demand one of the top salaries in the league, and handing him a $50m deal could prove an expensive mistake if something is to go wrong.
Instead, the franchise could turn to cost-effective quarterback who fits their system, and that’s Sanders.
If he is indeed still on the draft board late, the 49ers will have a tough decision to make, and could shift the entire landscape of the NFL with one shock pick.
