The 6’1′′ quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers might hold the key to Sam Darnold’s dominant 2024 campaign.
After leading the Minnesota Vikings to a 14-3 record the previous season, Darnold lost the moniker “bust.” With 4,319 yards and 35 touchdowns, the 27-year-old quarterback finished in the top five in the NFL. In addition to finishing third for Comeback Player of the Year and earning a few MVP votes, Darnold was named a Pro Bowler.
Due to his outstanding season, Darnold was able to sign a big contract to start at quarterback for the Seattle Seahawks.
Darnold was asked to explain what drove his dramatic improvement during his first press conference with the Seahawks. He cited Brock Purdy, a former teammate, as a major factor.
“I really thank Brock a ton. Brock Purdy,” Darnold told reporters. “Just his style of play and how he kind of described his style as like, we’ve got a ton of great playmakers on offense. My job is just to play point guard and get the ball in their hands, and let them go do great things with the rock.
“When I started to change my thought process as a quarterback to kind of just getting the ball in my guys’ hands, that’s kind of where it unlocked for me.”
During Purdy’s first full season as San Francisco’s starting quarterback, Darnold was the 49ers’ backup quarterback. During his campaign, Purdy, who was then only in his second professional season, finished fourth in the MVP voting.
Darnold, who has far more years of NFL experience than San Francisco’s “Mr. Irrelevant,” gets praise for being open to Purdy’s counsel. It’s difficult to dispute the outcomes, even though the change Darnold mentioned seems fairly small.
Despite having the talent all along, Darnold, the third overall choice in the 2018 draft, was unable to put it together until the previous season. It seems that all it needed to unleash that brilliance on an NFL field was a simple mental shift.
