Sam Darnold

Wow, I thought Allen was bad, but this is egregious. This really is Bortlesesque. Follow the path of his delivery. The ball dips to his belt line before it gets to his elongated release...disgusting.

I said it last year his mechanics are bad, his footwork is terrible he relies on his arm too much. Thats a huge wind up there!

After watching Darnold, Rosen and Allen play...Cousins is looking a whooooooole lot better

Tough vid to evaluate his play because it only shows the completions but I do love the ball placement... especially the throw at 1:22

My opinion, not that it matters.


After watching his 2016 "tape" I came away with the impression that he's great at extending plays. Looks like a very large Russ Wilson shifting around the pocket, playing outside of structure after the defense gets quick penetration. He's not looking to rush like a CK or Cam he's looking to extend plays behind the line.

He really likes rolling/passing right. His deeper passes down the middle are usually on target with good arm strength. He does well passing with anticipation on mid/deeper balls and also does a good job of leading receivers in the short game/redzone. There's not a lot of plays where we get to see him sitting in the pocket with good mechanics picking apart defenses but a few show that he can get it done. It's something he will have to work on at the NFL level, unless he goes to an offense that's built around bootlegs, roll outs, play action etc. I don't see him being a pockwt passing field general right out of the gates. Tons of potential though.


Weaknesses.

I've seen some good passes across his body to the left but I feel he depends on rollong/passing right too often. Also, in the NFL I'm not sure he'll be fast enough to shift around extending plays like he does in college. He has good form on many plays but stands like a statue in the pocket at times when he has a clean pocket. Usually on short passes his mechanics break down but I think these are mostly designed one read plays like most college QB's execute.

If he lands in a very structured offense I think he'll struggle early on but if he's given a shifty o-line and a lot of plays that utilize his play extending abilities then he should do well early. If we drafted him I'd want to see him stay in the pocket in camp/practice. Get him to execute Shanahan's offense as written in the playbook without depending on maneuvering behind the line.

Originally posted by DonnieDarko:
After watching Darnold, Rosen and Allen play...Cousins is looking a whooooooole lot better

based off of one game?

Originally posted by pdizo916:

Originally posted by DonnieDarko:
After watching Darnold, Rosen and Allen play...Cousins is looking a whooooooole lot better

based off of one game?

And to compound the last statement ...did you catch the Rosen game? If we're basing it off 1 game...

Originally posted by pdizo916:
based off of one game?

Are his mechanics going to change in the remaining games? Darnold's mechanics are bad. In addition to the poor arm mechanics, he has the same swinging gate issue with his lead leg/front hip that Trubisky had, except he doesn't have as strong of an arm or quick of a release to compensate for it.

His tape is full of plays like this:

Lazy footwork. A lot of his throws are made with open hips(QB coach's call it a swinging gate), so he loses the ability to step into them and transfer his weight. WR could have been hit in stride. Throws like these get you in trouble at the NFL level.



More bad footwork. His body is fading away from his target. He had time.



That hero ball s**t won't get you very far in the NFL. He plays too frantic. Is a team really going to use a top 5 pick on these Blake Bortlesesque mechanics?

Originally posted by NinerSickness:

I'm starting to warm up to the idea of Sam Darnold a little more after watching some more of his games. With questions about Rosen's personality, it's tough to say which one will be better at this point...

Remember what they said about Rodgers personality? That's partly why he slid, along with being in Tedfords system. Our dumb ass HC said he caught attitude from Rodgers, so he went after the great guy Alex Smith. lol

Out of the two QB's I think Rosen is a better fit for Shanahan's offense. Hands down. Darnold is much better at extending plays but Rosen would be a lot better in our offense IF we had decent pass blocking. Without decent pass blocking Darnold would be the better QB year one. If Seattle didn't have Wilson I think he'd do good in their system. He's like a big Russ Wilson.

If we draft Rosen we need to go after some pass blocking linemen in the draft/FA. Especially since his deep ball is one of his strengths but also because he's a pure pocket passer. He's a mix of Matt Ryan and Eli Manning IMO.

Darnold is like a mixture of Wentz/Wilson.

Originally posted by LeProfessionnel:

Originally posted by NinerSickness:
I'm starting to warm up to the idea of Sam Darnold a little more after watching some more of his games. With questions about Rosen's personality, it's tough to say which one will be better at this point...

Remember what they said about Rodgers personality? That's partly why he slid, along with being in Tedfords system. Our dumb ass HC said he caught attitude from Rodgers, so he went after the great guy Alex Smith. lol

Out of the two QB's I think Rosen is a better fit for Shanahan's offense. Hands down. Darnold is much better at extending plays but Rosen would be a lot better in our offense IF we had decent pass blocking. Without decent pass blocking Darnold would be the better QB year one. If Seattle didn't have Wilson I think he'd do good in their system. He's like a big Russ Wilson.

If we draft Rosen we need to go after some pass blocking linemen in the draft/FA. Especially since his deep ball is one of his strengths but also because he's a pure pocket passer. He's a mix of Matt Ryan and Eli Manning IMO.

Darnold is like a mixture of Wentz/Wilson.

FWIW The Rodgers drafted was not the same guy who started in Green Bay. He went to "QB school" in GB "for six hours a day several times a week". So who knows what would of happened to him with no development on a very bad SF team. This wasn't Tom Brady who just got undervalued because of his perceived physical limitations.

Originally posted by Jcool:

Originally posted by LeProfessionnel:

Originally posted by NinerSickness:
I'm starting to warm up to the idea of Sam Darnold a little more after watching some more of his games. With questions about Rosen's personality, it's tough to say which one will be better at this point...

Remember what they said about Rodgers personality? That's partly why he slid, along with being in Tedfords system. Our dumb ass HC said he caught attitude from Rodgers, so he went after the great guy Alex Smith. lol

Out of the two QB's I think Rosen is a better fit for Shanahan's offense. Hands down. Darnold is much better at extending plays but Rosen would be a lot better in our offense IF we had decent pass blocking. Without decent pass blocking Darnold would be the better QB year one. If Seattle didn't have Wilson I think he'd do good in their system. He's like a big Russ Wilson.

If we draft Rosen we need to go after some pass blocking linemen in the draft/FA. Especially since his deep ball is one of his strengths but also because he's a pure pocket passer. He's a mix of Matt Ryan and Eli Manning IMO.

Darnold is like a mixture of Wentz/Wilson.

FWIW The Rodgers drafted was not the same guy who started in Green Bay. He went to "QB school" in GB "for six hours a day several times a week". So who knows what would of happened to him with no development on a very bad SF team. This wasn't Tom Brady who just got undervalued because of his perceived physical limitations.

This is always overlooked. Good post.

Originally posted by Heroism:
Wow, I thought Allen was bad, but this is egregious. This really is Bortlesesque. Follow the path of his delivery. The ball dips to his belt line before it gets to his elongated release...disgusting.

There is no reason or excuse to do this from a clean pocket. Kills velocity. pic.twitter.com/DcnmjUapXK

— Derrik Klassen (@QBKlass) September 4, 2017

Damn this is UGLY. Wow.

Originally posted by Jcool:

FWIW The Rodgers drafted was not the same guy who started in Green Bay. He went to "QB school" in GB "for six hours a day several times a week". So who knows what would of happened to him with no development on a very bad SF team. This wasn't Tom Brady who just got undervalued because of his perceived physical limitations.

I thought Darnold was working on his mechanics all off season. I know it will take longer than 1 off season but for some people new mechanics don't stick when bullets are flying.

Yeah he has bad mechanics and footwork. Has to be a huge turnoff for Kyle. Both beathard and hoyer have a fast and compact release. So unless he drastically changes his mechanics I see him as another overrated USC qb.

Originally posted by gold49digger:

Yeah he has bad mechanics and footwork. Has to be a huge turnoff for Kyle. Both beathard and hoyer have a fast and compact release. So unless he drastically changes his mechanics I see him as another overrated USC qb.

He has great intangibles. I would never say he's overrated. I think he is special QB in the right system with a patient team.