Why Canty believes 49ers should trade Purdy to Steelers for Watt

As T.J. Watt’s future with the Pittsburgh Steelers remains cloudy, could the Bay serve as a potential new home for the star linebacker?

Chris Canty seems to think so.

The former NFL defensive lineman-turned-ESPN analyst shared a bizarre trade proposal that would bring Watt to San Francisco and ship quarterback Brock Purdy, who’s awaiting a contract extension this offseason, to Pittsburgh.

“Using T.J. Watt as a way to be able to pry Brock Purdy from San Francisco,” Canty explained on ESPN Radio’s “UnSportsmanLike.” “The 49ers gutted at defense, being able to add some help for Fred Warner and Nick Bosa. T.J. Watt in that group. [Robert] Saleh now back there as the defensive coordinator.

“[The 49ers] got the 11th overall pick, so they can presumably draft a quarterback if they don’t have to give up that pick in the trade. I don’t know how the 49ers say no to that.”

Well, for starters, San Francisco suffered several losses this offseason for cost-cutting reasons, seemingly to make room to pay Purdy, who could earn anywhere from $50 million to $60 million per season. Some of those moves included saying goodbye to impact players such as linebacker Dre Greenlaw, wide receiver Deebo Samuel and cornerback Charvarius Ward.

The 49ers spent approximately $246 million in salary last year in their effort to get over the hump to win a Super Bowl, but their 2024 season, largely due to injuries, fell well below expectations. San Francisco’s 2025 salary cap situation now includes more than $80 million connected to players no longer on the team, including Samuel, defensive tackle Arik Armstead, Ward and defensive lineman Leonard Floyd.

San Francisco 49ers

Find the latest San Francisco 49ers news, highlights, analysis and more with NBC Sports Bay Area and California.

And after the recent roster shake-up, the 49ers are hopeful a contract extension for their star quarterback gets done this offseason.

Aside from the finances, former NFL guard-turned-ESPN analyst Damien Woody reacted to his colleague’s trade proposal and explained why it’s impudent to Purdy.

“It’s disrespectful to Brock Purdy, to be honest with you,” Woody said Friday morning on “First Take.” “Brock Purdy is what I call a tier-two quarterback. He’s not in the tier one with the Joe Burrows and Lamar Jacksons and Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allens — but he’s right there. He’s a guy you can win a championship with in this league. There’s no question about it. Do those guys grow on trees? Do those types of quarterbacks grow on trees? They do not. Why in the world would the San Francisco 49ers, who by the way have been unloading guys on their roster because they know they have to pay the quarterback, why would you make that trade? It makes absolutely no sense.

“And for anyone who says [49ers coach] Kyle Shanahan can go out here and plug-and-play any quarterback, we saw that with Jimmy Garoppolo, and I think everyone on this panel would say that Brock Purdy is significantly better than Jimmy Garoppolo. So from all of this, we got to stop disrespecting Brock Purdy because he’s a top-10 quarterback in this league.”

Watt’s recent cryptic social media post raised speculation about the status of his Steelers extension, with the 30-year-old posting a photo of himself holding up the peace sign to his Instagram story.