49ers overreactions: Can Purdy play his way to $60M contract?

The 49ers advanced to the NFL’s final four in four of the past five years. The standard has been set.

This season, anything but a Super Bowl title probably will be viewed as a disappointment.

And the Super Bowl expectations certainly are not dying down after their thorough Week 1 beatdown of the New York Jets, who entered the 2024 NFL season believing they have what it takes to win it all, too.

The 49ers' fan base expressed an abundance of optimism -- and rightfully so -- in this edition of 49ers overreactions:

Brock Purdy isn't going to get an opportunity to prove he is a 60 million dollar man, because the running game is so good. (maxamillianm80)

Overreaction: Yes.

There was not a lot flashy about Brock Purdy’s performance on Monday night. Perhaps, it was not even as crisp as it usually looks. And, in a way, that’s a huge compliment to him because of what everyone has come to expect from him.

A year ago, Purdy clearly was the better quarterback on the field for all but four of the 19 games in which he played. On Monday, he was better than Aaron Rodgers.

Purdy will be eligible for a new contract after he plays his final game of this season. The 49ers know how difficult it is to find a franchise quarterback.

Purdy is a franchise quarterback, and teams do not let those kinds of players get away.

Whether his second contract pays him an annual average of $60 million remains to be seen.

But just because the 49ers also have the ability to run the ball so successfully does not detract from Purdy’s value to the organization.

The defense is already better than last year’s Steve Wilks version, and it will only get better when Huf, Greenlaw, Gross-Matos return. They will be dominant. (Ferguson1962)

Overreaction: No.

Well, it was just one game against a team whose 40-year-old quarterback had not played more than four snaps in a game in 20 months.

But the 49ers’ defense certainly had a different feel to it in Nick Sorensen’s first game as defensive coordinator. Things looked very cohesive, and that’s how it felt for All-Pro linebacker Fred Warner, too.

“He called a great game,” Warner said of Sorensen. “I love the way that he approaches the preparation, the way that he leads our group, ultimately goes out there and calls a flawless game.”

Wilks had the built-in disadvantage of learning and running a new defense last season. It didn’t work out. Sorensen has been around this system for years, going back to eight seasons he spent on Pete Carroll’s staff with the Seattle Seahawks.

The addition of veteran cornerback Isaac Yiadom was a huge under-the-radar signing to play important snaps on the outside in the team’s nickel defense. Rookie Renardo Green and veteran Rock Ya-Sin provide talent that’s an upgrade over what the 49ers put on the field last season, too.

The run defense looked solid, and Leonard Floyd should provide a strong pass rush opposite of Nick Bosa.

Again, it’s just one game, but the 49ers’ defense looks like it has the ability to carry the team through any rough stretches when the offense is not clicking.

They’re a Super Bowl team even without CMC (evfields24)

Overreaction: Yes.

Third-year running back Jordan Mason was phenomenal on Monday night, and that did not come as a surprise to his teammates or anyone who watched him play during his first two NFL seasons.

Mason carried 28 times for 147 yards and a touchdown against the Jets in Week 1, and might end up with NFC Offensive Player of the Week recognition.

But Christian McCaffrey is Christian McCaffrey — the reigning NFL Offensive Player of the Year and third in the MVP balloting.

The 49ers are capable of winning any game without McCaffrey, but a lot of things have to go right for a team to get to the Super Bowl. And as ready as Mason appears for the moment, it’s difficult to believe the 49ers can reach their goals without McCaffrey in a front-and-center role.

This is what a star in his fourth year looks like when he holds out too long. Dropped passes and little participation. Hopefully BA hurries up and gets in shape (mikedunnmedia_az)

Overreaction: No.

If Brandon Aiyuk stepped onto the field in midseason form on Monday night, it would have sent the signal to everyone that training camp is completely unnecessary. Of course, it’s going to take a little time to get back in the flow of things in the 49ers’ offense.

With the contractual distractions of the offseason, it seems like a big ask for him to come close to the numbers he posted last season: 75 receptions, 1,342 yards and seven touchdowns.

This season might be a slow build for Aiyuk to return to the form that earned him the big-money contract in the first place.

Aiyuk played 60 percent of the 49ers' offensive snaps on Monday night. He was the intended target of four passes (he was the closest receiver on another pass that Purdy simply threw away). Aiyuk caught two passes for 28 yards.

Jets cornerback Sauce Gardner stripped the ball out of his hands on one incomplete pass. And Aiyuk did not haul in another pass at the end of the first half with a diving attempt. It was a tough chance, for sure, but one Aiyuk has made in the past.

And it’s a catch the 49ers will expect him to make a few times this season as he knocks off the rust from an offseason in which he did not step onto the practice field with his teammates.

49ers front office for the win. Mr Irrelevant and an undrafted free agent in the backfield. No letdown. (mikeod52)

Overreaction: No.

It has not always gone as planned for general manager John Lynch, but the 49ers’ personnel department found a way build one of the top rosters in the NFL and maintain that high level for a handful of seasons.

Remember when folks were saying that if Trey Lance did not become a franchise quarterback it would set back the organization for a decade? It was not such a bold take, was it?

But nobody figured on the 262nd and final pick in the 2022 NFL Draft becoming what he has become and opening the door for the 49ers to trade Lance to the Dallas Cowboys for a fourth-round draft pick. Lance begins this season as the Cowboys’ No. 3 quarterback behind Dak Prescott and Cooper Rush.

The 49ers have experienced better fortune with undrafted running backs (Mason, Matt Breida, Jeff Wilson) than those they’ve selected in the draft (Joe Williams, Trey Sermon, Ty Davis-Price).

Go figure.

His navigational skills for roster construction and managing personalities are why Lynch can likely remain in this role with the 49ers for as long as he desires.

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