Throughout the offseason, the 49ers have made no secret regarding their belief that quarterback Sam Darnold could still be a special player, despite five years of Darnold seeing ghosts and the rest of us not seeing great performances from him.
Coach Kyle Shanahan made perhaps the strongest assessment yet regarding Darnold, in recent comments to Michael Silver of the San Francisco Chronicle.
“I mean, Steve Young took a while to get going, and he’s one of the best quarterbacks of all time,” Shanahan said. “I don’t like to compare anyone to Steve, cause of how good he is, but why can’t Sam be like that? He’s got that type of ability. He is that type of person. And I’m just pumped that we could get a talented guy like him here.”
The comments make it more clear that Darnold is poised to be the primary backup to Brock Purdy, over Trey Lance. And who knows? Maybe Darnold could prove to Shanahan that he can run the offense better than any of the other options.
That’s ultimately the key to winning the job. It’s something Rex Grossman said 12 years ago in Washington. The best way to win the job is to run the offense precisely and exactly the way Shanahan wants it to be run. He believes that, if the quarterback does that, the offense will work — and the 49ers will win.