'Play Better Defense' NFL Exec on Why the Tush Push Isn’t Going Anywhere ... Yet | NFL Mailbag

Plus, Insight on What Brock Purdy's Contract Means for The San Francisco 49ers, and More!

The league meetings are over, and despite commissioner Roger Goodell and the NFL’s best efforts, the tush push lives to see another season.

Beyond the Detroit Lions scrapping their proposal to shake up the playoff bracket and Jeffrey Lurie convincing his fellow owners not to rip the tush push from Nick Sirianni’s playbook, the San Francisco 49ers handled their business by signing quarterback Brock Purdy to a long-term extension that has the chance to alter the landscape of how future quarterback deals are structured for years to come.

We get into all of it with your questions, and the answers from NFL executives and scouts on the biggest storylines across the league over the past week.

Let’s get after it.

Now that the Brock Purdy contract is finished, and with so much emphasis on the draft after their lack of free agency [moves] this offseason, where do the 49ers go if their picks don’t live up to expectations? Is it time for a full rebuild? (@lidwig.bsky.social on BlueSky)

Kyle Terada-Imagn Images

Signing Purdy to this kind of contract, one that doesn’t elevate him into the Dak Prescott, Josh Allen, Patrick Mahomes stratosphere of deals, seems to signal that the 49ers remain intent on propping their Super Bowl window open for the life of this deal, around this quarterback.

Friend, colleague, mentor, and co-host of the Between The Hashmarks Podcast,

Mike Tanier

, over at

Mike Tanier's Too Deep Zone

, wrote the definitive breakdown of this contract and its implications not only on San Francisco but the quarterback economy as we should now come ot know it. It’s worth your time.

General manager John Lynch and the 49ers, with the help of Purdy’s representatives, structured this deal as close to perfect as one could expect, with both sides making some concessions. Purdy won’t reset the market, but he walks away with a full no-trade clause.

Meanwhile, San Francisco gets a quarterback they believe in, at a cap number that is lower than Sam Darnold’s, and if Purdy doesn’t ascend from here, the 49ers can release him by 2028 to get out from underneath the final $55 million on the contract.

So, what does it all mean?

One NFL scouting director offered the 49ers’ blueprint for John Lynch with Purdy’s future now secured.

“It’s time for them to keep building around Purdy,” an AFC Scouting Director told me, on the condition of anonymity to speak freely about another team and player. “Which is a good thing. They’re getting old in some areas across the roster, haven’t drafted great in recent years, and Purdy is a good quality NFL starter that they can win with.”

Purdy, along with returning All-Pro but oft-injured running back Christian McCaffrey, will likely need to shoulder a more significant portion of the load, offensively, after San Francisco traded away Pro Bowl weapon Deebo Samuel to Washington this offseason.

But, San Francisco has a few avenues they can take to add the pieces necessary to take the next steps towards winning a sixth Lombardi Trophy.

As things stand, the 49ers have just over $6 million in cap space next offseason but $28.42 million in 2027.

There will be some creative ways for Lynch and the front office to compete for some of the top free agents, just as Purdy’s deal gets expensive, and this contract isn’t one without escape hatches should it become an albatross.

Most importantly, the 49ers have a quarterback they are comfortable with within the framework of head coach Kyle Shanahan’s offense, who has made one trip to the Super Bowl while leading San Francisco to two NFC Championship appearances through his first three seasons.

“If the past years have taught teams anything,” the scouting director tells me. “If you don’t have a quarterback, you have nothing. Draft prospects such as Jaxson Dart and Anthony Richardson get overvalued all the time. They can win with Purdy.”

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Want to know what an NFL executive told me about the future of the tush push — and whether the league could still ban it after this year?

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