Breaking: Purdy’s Playmaking Abilities Complicate Contract Talks: 49ers Face Tough Decision on QB’s Future

For the most part, Brock Purdy played well in the San Francisco 49ers’ Week 16 matchup with the Miami Dolphins.

That was until his team needed him to lead a drive to win the game.

Though there was nothing riding on proceedings at Hard Rock Stadium after results in the early window eliminated San Francisco from playoff contention, the Niners still wanted to respond after seeing their season slip away.

But their chances at a morale-boosting win were also effectively extinguished with two minutes to play in the fourth quarter when Purdy, with the chance to give the Niners a lead, was intercepted on a throw over the middle by Kader Kohou.

Explaining the interception after a 29-17 loss, Purdy said: “I was trying to layer it over that defender for Ricky [Pearsall] and I just got hit and throw the ball that I really wanted to and the guy go it.”

While the hit clearly affected the throw, Purdy’s inability to avoid a backbreaking play is magnified by the situation in which the Niners found themselves.

San Francisco had the ball in good field position at their own 47-yard line and with all three of their timeouts. In other words, the 49ers had plenty of time to calmly move down the field while protecting the ball.

Purdy did the opposite, ruining an otherwise composed display in which he excelled at getting the ball in the hands of George Kittle and Deebo Samuel. Kittle went for 106 yards, while Samuel had 121 scrimmage yards and a touchdown in one of his best games of a down year.

And, as talks over what most expect to be a lucrative contract extension between Purdy and the 49ers loom on the horizon, it was another error that makes those negotiations more difficult.

Purdy was in a tough spot in a game that saw two members of an already banged-up offensive line leave as both Aaron Banks and Jaylon Moore, filling in for Trent Williams at left tackle, suffered injuries.

The 49ers were down to their fourth-string running back with Patrick Taylor Jr. starting amid a hamstring injury to Isaac Guerendo. Purdy finished as the Niners’ leading rusher with just 26 yards.

On top of that, Purdy cannot be blamed for the costly errors of those around him, particularly a second illegal formation penalty on Pearsall that wiped out a perfect pass from Purdy to Samuel that put the 49ers on the Miami two-yard line with the chance to take a 17-16 lead. Jake Moody subsequently missed a field goal as the drive stalled and the Dolphins then went up 19-10 on the subsequent series.