Brock Purdy won't be signing a record-breaking contract any time soon, but 49ers QB making most of every cent

In addition to his base salary, Purdy has made extra money in a variety of ways

San Francisco 49ers quarterback and league MVP favorite Brock Purdy is making a measly $870,000 in base salary this season. That's part of his four-year, $3.7 million contract he signed as the last pick in the 2022 NFL Draft.

Consider that he's living in California and you may as well cut that salary in half to account for taxes. As of October, Purdy was rooming with an offensive lineman to save money on rent.

And even if the 49ers wanted to give Purdy a raise this offseason, they can't. He could become the first 49es player to win the NFL MVP in thirty years and bring the franchise its sixth Lombardi Trophy with a victory in Las Vegas in February, and he would have the exact same base salary next year thanks to the league's collective bargaining agreement.

Much has been made in recent weeks of Mr. Irrelevant's pay compared to play, but sources have made things extremely clear to CBS Sports: 1) There's no way for the 49ers to work out a contract extension until 2025 at the earliest and 2) Purdy is making more than double his base salary in 2023 solely on the football field, regardless of any extra marketing deals or endorsements.

Purdy's four-year deal is a basic one. There's no incentive structure or major signing bonus. Since 2011, any rookie drafted has hardly any leverage in contract negotiations, and certainly not a rookie taken with the last pick of the draft.

According to the CBA, a "Rookie Contract for a Drafted Rookie may not be renegotiated, amended or altered in any way until after the final regular season game of the player's third contract year." So, if San Francisco wanted to pay him a top-of-market contract as soon as possible, the 49ers couldn't do it until January 2025 at the absolute earliest.

Interestingly, if the Niners hadn't selected Purdy and he went undrafted, he'd actually be able to negotiate a new contract as early as three weeks from now. Undrafted rookie deals can't be renegotiated, amended or altered until after the final regular season game of a player's second contract year.

In terms of average annual value -- the usual metric by which many rank quarterback contracts -- Joe Burrow leads all quarterbacks at $55 million. Purdy has an AAV of $934,253, which is 85th among all quarterbacks.

Because he's still a whole playoffs, another regular season and then a postseason away from a contract, there's little use in guessing at what his next deal would fetch him. But if he maintains this level of play, and if Dak Prescott breaks the bank this offseason as he should, then it's reasonable to assume Purdy will become one of the highest-paid players in NFL history by the summer of 2025.

For now, he'll have to make do with his rookie contract -- and the hidden extra hundreds of thousands he's amassed in the past year.

Purdy made an extra $162,000 last year for getting to the NFC Championship Game, as did every other 49ers player as part of the league's postseason pay schedule.

If the Niners get back to the conference title game this year, he'd make $174,000 (give or take a thousand depending on if the Niners get a bye.) If San Francisco wins the Super Bowl, Purdy would get an extra $164,000 along with the rest of his teammates. If it loses in Vegas, he'd get $89,000 extra.

And since he's an MVP candidate, there's no doubt he'd be a Pro Bowl quarterback. A player on the winning team would get $88,000, and a player on the losing team would get $44,000. If the Niners are in the Super Bowl, Purdy wouldn't be able to participate in the Pro Bowl but would still get the share from the NFC team depending upon the outcome of the game.

Last year he also got paid for ... well ... not getting paid. And he's going to make even more this year. Since the 2002 CBA, the NFL has given out "performance-based pay" distributions to hundreds of players a year. It's a pool of money the league gives to players (using a formula) that rewards players who out-perform their contract by, in part, comparing playing time to average salary.

Purdy didn't start until Week 14 last year, and he ultimately played about 34% of the 49ers snaps in the 2022 regular-season. Sources tell CBS Sports Purdy made $248,338.75 in performance-based pay for the 2022 season. All of which, to be clear, is money on top of his base salary.

It's impossible to calculate Purdy's performance-based pay for 2023 even if one guesses that he'll play 95% of the snaps this season due to other factors in the formula. But personnel folks with salary-cap backgrounds at five different NFL teams estimated he'd get paid between $700,000 to $1 million in performance-based pay alone for the 2023 season.

So to sum it up, Purdy made $1.19 million for his play alone in 2022. And for the 2023 season, with a Super Bowl victory, he stands to add nearly $1.5 million to his base salary of $870,000.

And still ... that's not all. The CBA also includes what's known as the "NFLPA Group Licensing Program," and it's a program by which Purdy (and all players) can make extra money. The formula by which the union doles out that money is somewhat of a secret, but it involves money earned from the Madden video game as well as individual player sales.

The NFLPA identified Purdy in June as the top young player who would "continue driving the sports licensed business" in 2023. Today, Purdy sits in the top-40 among all players when it comes to all licensed products.

A source with knowledge of typical payments told CBS Sports that a player with Purdy's profile would stand to make somewhere in the low six figures from the program for the 2023 season.

Though the team can't renegotiate Purdy's contract right now, there is a way to pay him a little more money. Slightly.

If Purdy does a community relations or sponsor event for the team, the 49ers can pay Purdy up to $6,500 for each event, up to five events. And if he drove himself to those events, he could be reimbursed for mileage and even parking fees.

The NFL CBA states that "no cash or non-cash financial or economic consideration of any kind (e.g., suites, automobiles, loans, etc.) may be paid or promised to the player for any reason whatsoever including, but not limited to, the player's performance of non football-related services with the exception" of those five events.

Lastly, there are his off-field endorsements. Purdy has deals with both Toyota and Alaska Airlines, and the terms of those deals are not publicly known. If the 49ers keep playing like this, he surely will be involved in more commercials and advertisements moving forward.

Purdy would become the cheapest quarterback to win the NFL MVP since Kurt Warner did it following the 1999 season. And the 49ers can continue to build around him because his big payday is still at least 13 months away.

Purdy is engaged to be married, splitting rent and living in one of the most expensive areas of the country. Every cent matters.