The largest information for the 49ers on the opening day of the free company negotiating interval was agreeing to phrases with defensive sort out Javon Hargrave, one other high-profile, top-dollar star to go together with Trent Williams, Chrisitan McCaffrey, George Kittle, Deebo Samuel, Fred Warner, Arik Armstead and Charvarius Ward.
The 49ers aren’t afraid of huge names and massive contracts.
However as OTAs give method to coaching camp, the preseason, the common season and past, probably the most important Day 1 acquisition might be the insurance coverage coverage coach Kyle Shanahan and basic supervisor John Lynch are planning on buying in quarterback Sam Darnold.
The identical Sam Darnold who, like Trey Lance, was the No. 3 general choose of an NFL Draft. The identical Darnold who lasted three ineffective seasons with the New York Jets and couldn’t seize the second in 2021-22 with the Carolina Panthers.
Darnold reportedly agreeing to phrases on a one-year deal introduced a collective groan from a phase of 49ers followers in social media. But this isn’t Blaine Gabbert coming in to a helpless scenario within the post-Jim Harbaugh disasters of Jim Tomsula and Chip Kelly, a franchise with little expertise and fewer path when it comes to imaginative and prescient on offense.
Darnold, who turns 26 in June, is a much better choice than in search of a veteran, well-past-his-prime, just-in-case caretaker comparable to Matt Ryan. If Brock Purdy has any points rehabbing his proper elbow and Lance both will get harm once more or is ineffective, Darnold makes lots of sense.
Final 12 months, the 49ers saved Jimmy Garoppolo aboard as an insurance coverage coverage for Lance. They have been intrigued sufficient by Purdy to maintain him on the roster however unaware the ultimate choose of the draft might be so impactful. Because it turned out, they wanted greater than three quarterbacks.
With Garoppolo becoming a member of the Raiders, this 12 months’s coverage is Darnold. It speaks effectively of Darnold’s long-term judgment that he’d bounce on the likelihood to signal with the 49ers on Day 1 slightly than see if he may sneak in as somebody’s starter on a nasty workforce on this 12 months’s model of quarterback musical chairs.
Even when Darnold by no means sees the sphere, having a 12 months within the 49ers system will likely be good for his profession in getting into free company once more subsequent 12 months. And if catastrophe strikes the 49ers once more at crucial place in skilled sports activities, who’s to say Darnold couldn’t replicate what Garoppolo and Purdy did in 2022 after Lance went down with a damaged ankle?
Darnold began the final six video games for Carolina a 12 months in the past and didn’t mild up the stat sheet however went 4-2 underneath interim coach Steve Wilks, who's now the 49ers’ defensive coordinator.
Popping out of USC, Darnold performed with the Jets underneath coach Todd Bowles and offensive coordinator Jeremy Bates. They have been gone after the primary 12 months, changed by Adam Gase and Dowell Loggains. Ugh. Subsequent up have been the Panthers and Matt Rhule, who was dumped after a loss to the 49ers in Week 5.
Should you wished a blueprint on find out how to sabotage a younger quarterback prospect, it could be roughly just like what Darnold has skilled by way of 5 seasons with the Jets and Panthers.
Darnold is 6-foot-3, 225 kilos, a expertise in search of a refinement that has by no means occurred. That ought to change underneath Shanahan.
Bringing Darnold in suggests Shanahan and Lynch have been fibbing once they talked at their postseason press convention about how assured they have been with Purdy and Lance heading into 2023 and that one other quarterback wasn’t actually a excessive precedence.
It didn’t make sense on the time, given the 49ers, a workforce that used to hold simply two quarterbacks, had 4 of them harm by the top of a 13-4 season plus two playoff wins.
Darnold has had little in the way in which of offensive continuity and consistency, and it’s not like he’s been surrounded by playmakers.
Don’t low cost Christian McCaffrey on this acquisition. Relaxation assured he was quizzed, as was Wilks, as to Darnold’s qualities as a teammate from their time in Carolina. Plus, the 49ers had scouted Darnold out of USC earlier than the 2018 draft and shaped an opinion as to his talent set and potential.
That is a type of instances I’m going to imagine Shanahan is aware of extra taking part in quarterback within the NFL than I do.
Beginning quarterbacks underneath Kyle Shanahan with 49ers:
2017: Beathard, Hoyer, Garoppolo
2018: Garoppolo, Beathard, Mullens
2019: Garoppolo
2020: Garoppolo, Beathard, Mullens
2021: Lance, Garoppolo
2022: Lance, Garoppolo, Purdy— Jerry McDonald (@Jerrymcd) March 14, 2023
Hargrave was a major and surprising signing, and the big-ticket gadgets are what convey pleasure to the opening of free company that usually exceeds their significance. As Raiders broad receiver Tim Brown informed me way back, “no workforce actually loses a participant it needs to maintain.”
The gold nuggets in free company aren’t these anticipated to star straight away, however these within the cut price bin who will be salvaged on a workforce with higher teaching and a profitable tradition.
With two younger quarterbacks already on the roster, it regarded as if the 49ers have been going to wind up taking a second take a look at the likes of Nick Mullens or Nate Sudfeld. In different phrases, a heat physique to fill the position of No. 3.
But when the 49ers realized something final 12 months, it’s that No. 3 had higher be capable of step in and play like a No. 1, and bear in mind Shanahan has wanted three starters to get by way of the season in yearly as a head coach besides 2019.
Because the 49ers pursue their fourth NFC title recreation in 5 years, Darnold is in one of the best place he may probably be to rebuild his recreation and his fame.