To go from the prohibitive favorite in the NFC to a 6-11 record with a fourth-place finish in the NFC West requires a substantial failure on the part of the San Francisco 49ers. Their players are not at all in denial of that fact.
Monday was locker room cleanout day, featuring stuffed cardboard boxes of signed jerseys, memorabilia, letters, and whatever else had to leave the facility. It was a requisite moment of reflection on a season wasted and looking forward to an abundance of offseason decisions to come.
The first order of business, of course, is Brock Purdy's contract.
The Brock Purdy of it all
Before anything else, let me briefly explain the reality of the Brock Purdy contract situation. I'll have a longer explainer later, but for now, just know that Brock Purdy won't actually be getting $65 million per year.
Purdy might get a contract that says $60 or $65 million per year, but that won't be the reality of it. If you look at Jordan Love's contract, it's effectively a $32.5 million-per-year deal over four years as far as the salary cap is concerned. There's a hilarious, nearly $76 million cap hit in year five, but the Packers could cut him at that point and save roughly $59 million. There's flexibility. It's not truly $55 million per year.
Regardless of what your view is of Purdy, is clearly a very good quarterback who has trust with Kyle Shanahan and is functioning at a higher level than any other quarterback Shanahan has had here. You can spin the wheel and try and hit again, but if you miss, you don't get to spin again. The 49ers don't want to spin the wheel. They want Purdy. And Purdy discussed the incoming reality, which is that he will be paid this offseason.
"I want to obviously get it done," Purdy said. "If that's an opportunity to be able to get that done quick, that'd be great. Just so we can get back for phase one."
The 49ers are notorious for dragging out these contract discussions, then getting subpar performance as a result from having holdouts. Purdy wants to avoid that. The 49ers should have learned their lesson there from this offseason.
As to whether Purdy would hold out of OTAs and/or minicamp if he doesn't have a deal done, he said he's not sure yet.
"Some guys may get it done early, some guys may not," Purdy said. "More than anything for me, I want to be able to handle business the right way and do it in a respectful manner, and get back to my team as fast as I can, to keep going, to get better, to grow together. That's my mindset and my focus."
George Kittle up for a new contract?
Last offseason, the 49ers could have left Christian McCaffrey's contract alone. Instead, the restructured it early and effectively made it a two-year guaranteed deal with a third-year option.
George Kittle, who was perhaps the only consistent bright spot on the 49ers, and was given the Len Eshmont Award for inspirational and courageous play (effectively team MVP) Monday, could be up for a new deal himself this offseason.
Kittle tallied his fourth-career 1,000-yard receiving season and was their only real outlet in the red zone. He is entering the last year of his contract, worth $22.85 million on the cap (plus a $13.625 million void year to follow). It would make sense, especially given the 49ers' pathetic drafting at the tight end position since drafting Kittle (see: Cam Latu, Brayden Willis, Kaden Smith). Charlie Woerner was their best selection at the position and that's not saying much.
While he didn't go in depth about those prospects, Kittle would clearly love to remain in Santa Clara.
"I want to be a Niner for my entire career, wearing the red and gold," Kittle said. "And whatever the front office wants to do, I'm all ears."
Kittle, as the standard-bearer for the team, also heaped praise on Brock Purdy's growth as a leader. He said Purdy was more vocal, especially in the huddle this season, and that eased a bit of the burden on Kittle.
He also had a pretty apt summary of the 49ers' emotions in relation to the season.
"Our standards for this organization are significantly higher," Kittle said. "Our expectations for ourselves were higher, goals were higher, and we didn't achieve any of those. So it's disappointing. Wouldn't say haunting.
"Team dealt with a lot, with a ton of off the field, things that happened that couldn't really see coming from with Ricky, our O-line coach, Charvarius Ward, Trent Williams, like the team went through a lot this year, and we weren't able to get through some of those games. It's unfortunate. We're not happy about it. That's the reality that we're in, and our names are stamped on that. And so I think as an organization, we'll do everything that we can to right the ship and get more wins next year."
Christian McCaffrey 'a little pissed off'
The 49ers will have to look at the running back position probably more than they had hoped this offseason. Jordan Mason is a restricted free agent, with the first right of refusal tag likely north of $3 million, and the second-round tender north of $5 million, which is probably more than they would want to spend on a backup running back.
Elijah Mitchell is a free agent, but has played just 35 games out of a possible 74 in four years. Isaac Guerendo shared that he avoided ACL damage, but clearly suffered a serious MCL injury. In the backfield, it's him and Christian McCaffrey, who's coming off a PCL injury.
McCaffrey clearly had a bit of an edge talking about his Achilles issues at the start of the year, especially given the scrutiny and perception of him as someone who did damage for training too hard. He bristled at that suggestion.
"I didn't train any harder than the year before, when I was the Offensive Player of the Year," McCaffrey said. "Things happen that you don't understand why, but it's my job to figure out why, to make the corrections so that I can be the best player I can be."
He did say that there are things he would evaluate and has evaluated within his training regimen going forward, but that his Achilles is not an issue going forward. His outlook on the year was a frustrated one.
"I’m excited. I think I’m a little pissed off in the right ways. That’s a good thing," McCaffrey said. "For me, it's always probably pretty salty, but not in a bad way. I think it's, when you have a lot of success for a couple years in a row, and then you get humbled quick, it's a good reminder of what it takes to be good in this league. Not that we needed a reminder."