The going rate for an NFL franchise quarterback is skyrocketing by the year.
Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence reset the market after signing a massive five-year, $275 million contract extension last week, paying him an average annual salary of $55 million.
Which some believe 49ers third-year quarterback Brock Purdy, who is eligible to sign a lucrative contract extension with San Francisco next offseason, will receive. If not more.
The booming quarterback market appears to have raised red flags among NFL owners, with some discussing the possibility of a salary cap at the position, NFL Media’s Tom Pelissero told Rich Eisen on June 18.
“There certainly has been discussion within the league, among certain owners, about even the idea of a quarterback cap, that at some point, you want quarterback numbers to not go over a certain percentage of your salary cap,” Pelissero told Eisen. “To my knowledge, that really hasn’t gained traction, in part because so many teams have paid their quarterbacks.
“And if you went to suddenly an NBA model, where all of a sudden you have the max and the super-max, and there’s really only a couple levels that guys can get paid at, it kind of changes the dynamics in terms of how you set yourself up salary cap-wise and whatnot.”
Many around the league were shocked by how much Lawrence received given his inconsistent play throughout his first three NFL seasons, but as Pelissero points out, Lawrence’s $55-million-per-season figure soon could be the the market rate for a franchise quarterback.
“It does give some people pause, but it’s also a reflection that the quarterback market, like the salary cap, is going to continue to go up,” Pelissero continued. “So the longer you wait, the higher these numbers are probably going to be, absent … some team convincing a player to take a sub-market deal, which is really hard to do in 2024.”
Purdy, who broke 49ers franchise records in his MVP-caliber 2023 season, widely is regarded as one of the top quarterbacks in the league and already has outperformed Lawrence in his career.
Which begs the question: Could “Mr. Irrelevant” soon be the NFL’s highest-paid quarterback?
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