49ers Super Bowl future a question mark with Christian McCaffrey’s season-ending injury and Brock Purdy’s contract coming up
Dan Orlovsky feels injuries have stopped Brock Purdy and Christian McCaffrey from helping San Francisco 49ers win a Super Bowl.
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Brock Purdy and Christian McCaffrey have not helped the San Francisco 49ers win a Super Bowl (Image via Imago)
‘Trying’ is the word to describe the San Francisco 49ers season so far. Standing at 5-7 with multiple head-scratching losses, instead of contending for a Super Bowl, the team is staring at a failed season. To make matters worse, injury to Christian McCaffrey and the contract situation of Brock Purdy is swirling their minds.
Prior to the start of the season, the team was optimistic about finally dethroning Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs. Brock Purdy had a full offseason to work with the starters, and their addition of Ricky Pearsall was a brilliant move to provide depth.
However, the Brandon Aiyuk contract negotiation posed questions about the locker room as that would have had some kind of impact. To make matters worse, an injured and not practicing McCaffrey suggested Aiyuk was on the way out.
Then that injury concern for their superstar running back made it worse, as there was no timetable for his return. They also lost star DT Javon Hargrave to a season-ending injury, then Aiyuk joined IR a while later. Now with Christian McCaffrey joining them, ESPN analyst Dan Orlovsky spoke about the 49ers woes while on NFL Live.
It feels for me that injuries derailed a really legit Super Bowl window. If you look at some of the injuries and how you spin it forward, they gotta make decisions on Brock Purdy, McCaffrey, Deebo Samuel, Hufanga and Dre Greenlaw’s. This iteration of it is over.
Dan Orlovsky said on NFL Live
"It feels for me, that injuries derailed a really legit Super Bowl window."@danorlovsky7 on how injuries have impacted Brock Purdy and the Niners' offense. pic.twitter.com/ukd5GQbnkX
— NFL on ESPN (@ESPNNFL) December 2, 2024
The former QB mentioned that if not for injuries, the San Francisco 49ers were legit Super Bowl contenders. But after all these injuries, they have some tough decisions to make. Some of those decisions could break up a solid football team.
49ers have decisions to make on Brock Purdy and others
In the last Super Bowl, their collective ignorance of the OT rules seemingly lost them the game. But heading into this season, they seemed primed to win it all. Now with several star players’ contracts in limbo, the 49ers face a tough task.
On one hand, they have to pay Brock Purdy after observing how Mr. Irrelevant performed this season. But 13 games later, no one knows how good he is. His receivers looked out of sync and struggles on the offensive line and running game made it difficult to gauge his true worth.
One can dismiss Christian McCaffrey’s year by suggesting it was the Madden Curse. However, injuries have blotted his stellar career, and he will be 29 when next season starts. However, they could wait until next season to avoid a massive dead cap hit.
They will also need to discuss what they will do with the other aging veterans. Maybe they wait until the end of next season to hand Purdy what he deserves. That wait could also help them analyze if they need to blow the roster up and build again.
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Joseph Varghese
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