NFC Notes: Brock Purdy, Kyler Murray, 49ers, Cardinals

Brock Purdy

49ers QB Brock Purdy was great in his return from offseason elbow surgery. He posted a stat line of 19-of-29 for 220 yards and two touchdowns for a passer rating of 111.3 against the Steelers. 

Purdy says he wasn’t thinking about his elbow injury during the game. 

“Honestly, not really,” Purdy said, via ESPN.com. “I think more in camp and stuff, I felt like that. I felt like right there in that moment, it was like ‘This is what we’re supposed to do. This is what we expect out of ourselves’ and once I hit that touchdown, I wasn’t thinking surgery or anything like that. It was ‘Man, we’re here to win. This is it. This is how we’re going to play.’ That’s where I was at mentally.”

49ers HC Kyle Shanahan spoke very highly of Purdy and what he’s done to get back to this point. 

“He’s taken this whole offseason as good as you can as a quarterback being injured,” Shanahan said. “He’s done everything he can to come back and he handles the pressure well and he really doesn’t change. I think that’s why the guys love him and I think that’s why he will continue to get better.”

49ers

• Per Pro Football Talk, 49ers DE Nick Bosa‘s five-year, $170 million contract includes a $50 million signing bonus. His 2023 salary was lowered from over $17 million on the fifth-year option to $1 million fully guaranteed and his base salaries in the new years of the deal are $1.125 million, $1.17 million, $22.68 million, $32.679 million and 33.5 million. 
• Bosa’s deal also includes a $15.23 million option bonus that is fully guaranteed in 2024, along with his base salary. In 2025, he has a $29 million option bonus, $20.35 million of which is guaranteed at signing and the remainder guaranteed in full a year early in 2024. 
• In 2025, Bosa’s 2026 base salary and $769,421 of his 2027 base salary vest from guaranteed for injury to fully guaranteed.
• Bosa can make up to $500,000 annually in per-game roster bonuses. Another $7.5 million in injury guarantees becomes fully guaranteed if he wins defensive player of the year again in the next three seasons and there is a void year tacked on to the end. 
• FOX Sports’ Jay Glazer mentions five teams reached out to San Francisco to see if there was any chance of the team trading Bosa. 

Cardinals

Cardinals HC Jonathan Gannon wouldn’t put a timeline on when Kyler Murray would return from his knee injury but mentioned he will play when he’s “mentally and physically” able to. 

“When he is mentally and physically ready to play he’ll play,” Gannon said, via Darren Urban of the team’s site. “I know he’s a franchise quarterback. Those are good for head coaches, typically.”

Gannon thinks it’s most important for Murray to prepare his body for the rigors of playing quarterback, with knowledge of the new playbook coming second. 

“The number one bucket that he has to keep improving is his health first,” Gannon said. “He has football as well, but knowing you only get one cup a day, where does that energy go? There is a healthy blend to it because he is getting himself ready to play but being mentally and physically ready to play in a game, that takes precedence for me and him and the staff right now. I don’t want him spending all his time on outside zone when he needs to be improving his flexibility, his explosiveness, his starting, his stopping.”