Outrageous scenario reunites Kirk Cousins and Kyle Shanahan in 2025
One of the more interesting contract extensions is what happens with Brock Purdy and the San Francisco 49ers. The fallout could be massive. The 49ers struck some gold with Brock Purdy, as he was the last pick in the 2022 NFL Draft and has turned out to be one of the better starters in the NFL, but to say the absolute least, he is a controversial player.
Some suggest that Purdy is simply a product of the elite system in San Francisco. Between the offensive genius of Kyle Shanahan and the elite playmakers, it would be hard for a QB to not succeed, and while Purdy has been very efficient with the Niners, we have seen his production take a hit this year, and this year just so happens to be a year where the main playmaking foundation of George Kittle, Christian McCaffrey, Deebo Samuel, and Brandon Aiyuk have all be in and out of the lineup.
Purdy still sports a very strong 97 passer rating this year, but that's the lowest mark of his career, and he's thrown 12 touchdowns against seven interceptions in 2024. He's threw just 11 interceptions in 16 games this year, is on pace to be sacked the most he's ever been, and he's also got the lowest completion percentage of his career as well.
Brock Purdy is a physically limited athlete and passer, and that may be on display here. Well, Jason La Canforna of The Washington Post seems to have somewhat of a pulse on this situation, and the idea he floats is the San Francisco 49ers swinging a trade for Kirk Cousins if the contract negotiations go south with Purdy next offseason:
"The 49ers paced the NFL at 28.4 offensive points per game a year ago, but are now 10th (23.7). A deeper probe into the film and data has rival scouts and executives suggesting San Francisco should tread lightly with Purdy’s upcoming contract negotiations, leading some to propose a Shanahan reunion with veteran Falcons quarterback Kirk Cousins as a potential escape hatch from a Purdy mega-contract in 2025.
- Jason La Canforna
“You saw him slump last year when everything wasn’t perfect. You know how I feel about this one, and it’s on the film. He’s an elite backup to me, more than anything else. He’s a guy, he’s not the guy. … And I’m hearing the same thing you are about Cousins. I can absolutely see that. You can’t give this kid $50 or $60 million.”"
The Atlanta Falcons situation is interesting, as the team signed Kirk Cousins in free agency this past offseason to a four-year, $180 million deal. It comes out to $45 million per season, and I would imagine that there is no chance the 49ers are able to extend Purdy for anything less than $50 million per season. Atlanta also took Michael Penix Jr with the eighth pick in the 2024 NFL Draft, and they may not want him to sit for more than a season.
I mean, Penix will turn 25 years old in May, and by sitting him for two seasons, they lose out on two years of a cost-controlled, potentially stud QB. The other interesting thing here is that Kirk Cousins contract is tradeable. According to Over The Cap, the Falcons would take on $27.5 million in cap savings and eat $12.5 million in dead money by trading Kirk Cousins and designating it as a post-June 1st trade.
This is quite doable for the Falcons. With Purdy's contract extension surely higher than that, the 49ers may not want to pay too high of a price knowing that Brock Purdy is clearly limited to a degree. This could reunite Kyle Shanahan and Kirk Cousins. They were together back when both were with the then Washington Redskins.
The 49ers would they have a 37-year-old QB, but they'd get a financial break on the QB contract, and it could allow San Francisco to reset themselves and actually give Kyle Shanahan a chance to hand-pick his long-term QB. This would then bring the question up of who Brock Purdy gets traded to, and what the price would be for that.
Oh man, just thinking about this situation makes my head spin, but it feels like the 49ers have discussed the possibility of this happening.