Sam Darnold has not performed to expectations of a player taken third overall throughout the first five seasons of his NFL career. His weaknesses are well known. Let’s mix it up by looking at what Darnold does well.
Athleticism
Sam Darnold’s ability to use his legs jumps off the screen when watching his NFL film. This fits well with the 49ers offense under Kyle Shanahan.
Whether it’s moving around to avoid the rush and get a throw off, scrambling, or keeping the ball on a zone read, Darnold does a bit of everything.
During a big win against Detroit late in the 2022 season Darnold showed off his legs by making plays in the run game. Included among those was an option play on which he read it correctly and got the ball to the running back for a touchdown. A few possessions later, Darnold kept the ball himself on a zone read and took it into the endzone.
Darnold has also proven to be an effective scrambler. During his career he has averaged 7.9 yards per rushing attempt when a pass play breaks down.
Quick passing game
Sam Darnold’s skillset is a near perfect fit to operate the 49ers quick passing game. The veteran has completed 80 percent of his passes when targeting receivers under ten yards beyond the line of scrimmage.
San Francisco’s passing offense is predicated on getting the ball out quickly to their playmakers. Affectionately known to the fan base as the “YAC Bros”, Deebo Samuel, Brandon Aiyuk, Christian McCaffrey and the rest of the 49ers skill position players chew up yards after the catch like Pac Man after he’s eaten a power tablet.
Pairing Darnold’s ability to get the ball out quick with the best playmakers he’s had in his career could lead to marked improvement.
Thrower of the football
There was quite a stir earlier this offseason when Sam Darnold was referred to as “one of the most talented throwers of the football the 49ers have ever had.”
The quote from 49ers insider Matt Maiocco during an interview on KNBR’s “Murph & Mac Show” is not as outlandish as many portrayed.
Being a terrific thrower of the football doesn’t make one a great quarterback. Yes, throwing the football well is a prerequisite for the position but there are several other factors which go into playing quarterback at a high level.
During 49ers OTAs and minicamp it was clear Darnold was the best thrower on the field when throwing without a defense in front of him.
Looks like Niners are set with their QBs. Wonder why Kirk Cousins name keep surfaced? Kirk should have played recent Steve Jobs in the movie instead of Ashton Kutcher
Jack,
Your first two points make SD sound like an outstanding QB. I wonder why his results have been so poor. Did the Jets and Panther use him wrong? Did they emphasize long routes and not many short passes? It sounds like the 49ers will have him playing the Jiimmy G passing game as well as the TL running game. It is going to take a lot more than analytics to convince me. If Purdy is cleared for all activities at he beginning of camp I can’t see how there are enough reps to prepare Purdy and decide between Darnold and Lance. imho
18 more days…
Hey Coach,
Darnold has completed just 52.7% of his attempts on throws in the intermediate area, 10-19 yards.
Jack, do you have stats of all three in the red zone?
Those are the important ones.
Looking at the good and bad of SD, it appears his low completion rate, his slow processing and high turnovers occur on passes over 10 yards since he is 80% on passes under 10 yards. Seems like this information would be useful to a defense although I’m trying to wrap my head around the conflicts between his strengths and weaknesses. It seems like some of this needs more explanation. Since he is such a strong runner and is quick on his feet, I suppose his fumbles must be the result of his staying in the pocket too long unable to make a decision and he gets hit or sacked.
I’m glad he’s on the team but hopefully we won’t need him at any point this year.
Hey, Jack. And Felix. Sam Darnold might be better than everybody thinks. Consider that he was on two teams – Carolina and the Jets – that were not that good. They lacked enough talent and probably a good coaching staff. So that in itself slowed down his developmental process and stunted his growth. Even Joe Montana wasn’t good in his first year when he had no talent around him. Now! He is on a 49ers team loaded and stacked with talent on both sides of the team with an excellent coaching staff. Competing with the competition and a full offseason in Kyle’s playbook plus a good QB coach, maybe he can now show why he was drafted #3 overall whether he wins the starting job or not.
Joe looked good in 79 in very limited appearances. DeBerg took close to 90% of the snaps. After about 9 games in 80 Walsh benched DeBerg and Montana took over and we knew we had something special.
Given the opportunity, Sam will surprise a lot of folks with his ability to move the team down the field. Having said that, Brock is clearly superior and if he wasn’t ruined by the shot to his elbow, there’s no reason to think he won’t pick up where he left off…
“Darnold spent two seasons with the Panthers, amassing an 8-9 record as a starter. He threw just 16 touchdowns to 16 interceptions in his 17 starts.” Nathaniel Puente, WCNC Charlotte Sports,
These are numbers that don’t give me any sense of sustainability going forward.
Montana elevated his game in subsequent years, and even Payton Manning continued to improve after going 3-13 in his rookie season. This has not been the case for SD.
We can name a number of reasons as to why Darnold has not played commensurate to his draft status, but who knows, maybe he can find himself with the 49ers.
If he misses out in TC he might continue to bounce around the league, like Rosen did.
Time will tell on Darnold’s future. However, I believe that a quarterback’s success is heavily dependent on the quality of the coach and the quality of the players on the team. I offer Alex Smith as exhibit A. He suffered for a long time under horrible coaches and crappy teams. He had huge success under Harbaugh and Reid.
Alex Smith played on some poor 49ers teams early on. The talent pool was practically empty and the coaching was horrendous. But his turn-over ratio was nowhere close to Darnold’s.
Some players just seem to have a penchant for making mistakes, and SD fits that category.
While Darnold has shown some great flashes. His TD throw against the 49ers where he threw the ball back against the grain reminded me of Pat Mahomes. And his ability to run for positive yards is also a benefit.
But the turn-overs are a huge concern, imho.
Here’s a youtube link on some of his turn-overs, that can’t be blamed on coaches or team.
https://yout. be/QD_smw2YY
Yes turnovers are a killer and he would have to improve on those to have a future in the NFL. However, good coaching and being surrounded by good players might help that situation.
Something happened to your link.
I certainly wish SD well and we’ll see how this works out inTC.
TBD
Felix, maybe I’m not doing something right, but this is the video. Hopefully it comes through.
Sam Darnold All Int…
htts://youtu.be/w3QD_smw2YY
17 more days!!!
Evey post is a copy and paste from Jack’s “article”. Is this AI at work? Inquiring minds want to know.
16 more days!!!
Jack,
For those of us who have seen you grow into this blog, it’s great to see you do so well.
I don’t tweet, podcast or listen to talkshows.
I’m old school, read them and write them.
I hope you’re not spreading yourself too thin by getting into all of those medias. Your strength is your analytical, unbiased breakdown of the game/players. I’m looking forward to the coming TC and season.
Happy 4th!
He’s doing what he loves and building a career and earning a living. I’m sure he’s going to continue working his ass off. More power too him.
The 49ers usually have their rookies show up 2 or 3 days before their vets. This year their rooks are reporting a full week before the vets. I wonder if there is a reason for this change. Do they think that this rookie class has a good chance to have multiple starters so they will need the extra time? Are they going to invite Lance and Darnold to report early so they can split the reps evenly until Purdy reports and takes 100% of the reps with the first team? I’m curious if there is a reason behind this change from their normal schedule?
OC, I was wondering the same thing. Technically, a rookie is a first year prospect.
https://www.49ers.com/news/49ers-2023-roster-breakdown-rookies-training-camp-draft-undrafted-free-agents
There 19 of them this hear, but not enough to make a team and fill all positions.
Are they going to play against each other?
Dee,
I’m not sure but I think any player from last years PS who has never been on the active roster may be eligible to report early as well as any player coming off of an injury.
I guess Darnold could be considered a rookie since he never played for the 9ers before. And we have the new #7, otherwise we can’t even put up 2 teams to practice. I hope they can invite some of the IR and new acquisitions.
It seems that it is counterproductive to keep players off the field. You would think that the more they train, the better they are mentally and physically prpared for the season.
Unions?
The 2011 contract changed football. It has affected the quality of the game in a negative fashion. At the same time it has also affected the health of the players in a very positive fashion. I think overall its a fair trade off.