NFC Notes: Brock Purdy, Kyle Shanahan, Geno Smith, 49ers, Seahawks

December 26, 2023

49ers

49ers QB Brock Purdy has had an MVP-caliber season in 2023 but wound up throwing three interceptions against the Ravens on Monday night, with HC Kyle Shanahan believing that he will be able to bounce back from the down performance next week.

“He stayed in there, kept battling,” Shanahan said, via NFL.com. “Our whole team struggled there in the second half, so it just wasn’t him. I know he was disappointed not being able to finish it there, but given that stinger again, I just wanted to keep him out of there. Ready for him to bounce back next week.”

“Yeah, I played the whole game, fine not thinking about it or anything at all,” Purdy added. “It wasn’t even a thing. You know just the way I got tackled on that play, it sort of just lit up again just like last week. So, I had to go through the protocol, process in the tent and everything like that. It sort of just how it went down.”

“We had talked about the scenario of the game and where we were at,” Purdy noted on what he and Shanahan discussed at the end of the game. “I just got a stinger and my arm was coming back, feeling normal and whatnot. So, he was just like where we were at the game and Sam had gone in and scored. He goes ‘for now we are just going to go with Sam with how things are going.’ We didn’t want anything else popping up with the stinger and all that kind of stuff. It was just where we were at situationally. Sam was doing good and we rolled with him. I have to look myself in the mirror and ask myself why or how that happened, and why I made those decisions. Our team came ready to play and, for me to make some decisions like that, it pains me and it’s not fair to these guys. I have to realize that and understand that. I have to get better for my team.”

Jonathan Jones of CBS Sports notes that Purdy is earning $870,000 in base salary this season due to his four-year, $3.7 million contract he signed after being the last pick in the draft but could add some money to that due to playoff incentives.
Jones adds that Purdy will have the same exact base salary next year due to the league’s collective bargaining agreement and that he would be able to negotiate a new contract after the final regular season game if he had gone undrafted.

Seahawks

If Seahawks QB Geno Smith has a strong finish to the season, he can earn more than the $25 million per year base value of his three-year, $75 million contract. Smith’s base salary will become fully guaranteed six days after the Super Bowl and he could see himself earning $27.3 million for the year with escalators.

“I just believe in my ability,” Smith said when asked about the contract structure, via Brady Henderson of ESPN. “I believe that with the guys around me, with the coaches that we have … I think the future is very bright for us. So with the contract and the incentives it’s just a way obviously for both parties to make it work. It allows the team room and space to do what they need to do but it also gives me an opportunity to be one of the top-10-paid quarterbacks, which is something that I believe that I am. So with all those things I think it worked out pretty great.”