"It was time to move on to someone younger and cheaper. "We felt like if we got a quarterback on a rookie deal, we could put together a team that would be really hard to deal with," Lynch said. "When you have that, it's a lot easier to have a lot more stars across the rest of your roster. Not just stars, but high-end depth, which we've had for a long time.""
"The San Francisco 49ers began laying the path to quarterback Brock Purdy becoming the highest-paid player in franchise history roughly four years before it happened. In the 2021 offseason, the Niners decided quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo was not in their long-term plans -- just three years after they made him the league's highest paid player ($27.5 million per year). The 49ers also had multiple star players heading toward position-defining contracts, which, combined with Garoppolo's injury history and limitations made the choice academic, according to Lynch."
Beginning in the 2021 offseason, the 49ers determined Jimmy Garoppolo was not part of their long-term plans despite his recent top salary. General manager John Lynch and coach Kyle Shanahan reviewed multi-year projections indicating an imminent surge in quarterback market costs. With several star players approaching large contracts and concerns about Garoppolo's injury history and limitations, the organization chose to pursue a younger, cheaper quarterback on a rookie deal. That roster-construction strategy aimed to preserve cap flexibility for multiple high-end players and depth, ultimately setting the stage for Brock Purdy to become the franchise's highest-paid player four years later.
Read at ESPN.com
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