Sam Darnold

If Darnold repeats what he did as a freshman and even improves as a Sophomore, then we're looking at a generational talent. I've seen a lot of Rosen and Darnold. There's no comparison, Darnold is head and shoulders better. His improvisation and going to his 3rd, 4th options with pass rushers in his face are unbelievable.

When we're talking about guys like Kizer and Rosen being big time prospects, I just don't get it. These guys have a tough time completing 60% of their passes. Darnold as a freshman was connecting on 67% of his passes and USC runs a pro style offense.

By comparison, as a freshman Andrew Luck was only hitting on 56% of his passes and made a leap up to 70% as sophomore.

Originally posted by ColorMeBaddFan:
If Darnold repeats what he did as a freshman and even improves as a Sophomore, then we're looking at a generational talent. I've seen a lot of Rosen and Darnold. There's no comparison, Darnold is head and shoulders better. His improvisation and going to his 3rd, 4th options with pass rushers in his face are unbelievable.

When we're talking about guys like Kizer and Rosen being big time prospects, I just don't get it. These guys have a tough time completing 60% of their passes. Darnold as a freshman was connecting on 67% of his passes and USC runs a pro style offense.

By comparison, as a freshman Andrew Luck was only hitting on 56% of his passes and made a leap up to 70% as sophomore.

We still need to see what Darnald can do with a year of film on him. But I can confidently say at this point he's put together some of the most impressive games I've seen in college football. With that said, if he repeats what he did last year, he's a top 5 if not number one pick. The thing I think a lot of fans don't realize is it's not the completion percentage itself, it's the fact that those completions are distributed to a number of receiving targets. He reads the field and is a gamer. He also is a guy that is very good at running but is always looking down field. Reminds me of Montana and that isn't me trivializing Montana's greatness. I've never seen a QB do what Darnald does with such regularity, outside of Montana.... plus a stronger arm.

The real scary part is the guy has no pulse. Seriously, he doesn't have ice in his veins, he has liquid nitrogen

Either way, great to be a Trojan this year... I'm going to enjoy this season.

Originally posted by Geeked:

Originally posted by Kolohe:
IMO, I think it's too early to talk Darnold and passing on Cousins. A lot of scenarios could play out at the end of next season:

1. Darnold regresses and stays in school.

2. Darnold balls out, declares for draft and the 49ers are too out of range to draft or trade up for him.

3. Darnold regresses like Rosen, declares for draft and is labeled as a 2nd to mid round pick ala Matt Barkley and the 49ers won't need to pass on Cousins.

Again a bit to early for my senses.

Rosen didn't regress and played VERY well majority of his games. He's the ONLY reason UCLA had an offense and we all saw what happened when he got hurt. The only knock I have on Rosen is he has a dead nerve in his throwing shoulder and they still don't know if he will ever get it back to full strength.

I should save this argument for another thread, but yes he did. From decision making to accuracy, the kid did not look like a 1st round pick at all, he actually stared down his first read much too often this past season.

Originally posted by Kolohe:
I should save this argument for another thread, but yes he did. From decision making to accuracy, the kid did not look like a 1st round pick at all, he actually stared down his first read much too often this past season.

Ok, but your assessment is based on a freshman year where he did better than Barkley (who I'll admit was WAY overrated throughout his career) and a sophomore year where he played 6 games and was very injured. Either way, when he went out UCLA's offense went into the tank.

Originally posted by Kolohe:

Originally posted by Geeked:

Originally posted by Kolohe:

IMO, I think it's too early to talk Darnold and passing on Cousins. A lot of scenarios could play out at the end of next season:

1. Darnold regresses and stays in school.

2. Darnold balls out, declares for draft and the 49ers are too out of range to draft or trade up for him.

3. Darnold regresses like Rosen, declares for draft and is labeled as a 2nd to mid round pick ala Matt Barkley and the 49ers won't need to pass on Cousins.

Again a bit to early for my senses.

Rosen didn't regress and played VERY well majority of his games. He's the ONLY reason UCLA had an offense and we all saw what happened when he got hurt. The only knock I have on Rosen is he has a dead nerve in his throwing shoulder and they still don't know if he will ever get it back to full strength.

I should save this argument for another thread, but yes he did. From decision making to accuracy, the kid did not look like a 1st round pick at all, he actually stared down his first read much too often this past season.

The problem is that here in SoCal the raves have not been about Darnold its been about Rosen and how he's been better than advertised. Darnold lost a lot of talent hes gonna struggle a bit next season.

Originally posted by 49er_Rider:
The problem is that here in SoCal the raves have not been about Darnold its been about Rosen and how he's been better than advertised. Darnold lost a lot of talent hes gonna struggle a bit next season.

We won't know til next year rolls around. We always have guys drop and guys come out of nowhere. Potentially next year's QB class can be scary good, just another reason not to go QB too early this year. It's always a double edged sword but with Cousins potentially out there it's certainly a good position to be in.

Go BPA this year and improve the team as much as possible then either target Cousins in FA and invest a likely still top 10 pick to improve the roster elsewhere or hold off on Cousins and draft one of the QBs who would be under a cheap contract for 5 years.

As I mentioned before the position is so important and Cousins not exactly being a spring chicken i wouldn't be opposed to signing him and then still drafting one of those top QBs if they were on the board when our pick rolled around.

I'd love to see what Josh Allen could do with Kyle Shanahan coaching him up for a few years.

Originally posted by 49er_Rider:
The problem is that here in SoCal the raves have not been about Darnold its been about Rosen and how he's been better than advertised. Darnold lost a lot of talent hes gonna struggle a bit next season.

Actually, I think Darnald has a better all around receiving core than last season and the same running back (Davis left but RoJo is very, very good and started half the games last year). The line, in spite of its losses, has become stronger and faster, and just a tiny bit smaller. If Darnald regresses, it won't be about the guys around him, it will be about the film on him. But, that film only helps when your defense is able to figure out a guy that extends plays an extra two seconds, is every bit as comfortable in the pocket as he is out (and he's very comfortable), and can throw the ball across his body 20 yards down field at the sideline.

Originally posted by Geeked:

Originally posted by 49er_Rider:

The problem is that here in SoCal the raves have not been about Darnold its been about Rosen and how he's been better than advertised. Darnold lost a lot of talent hes gonna struggle a bit next season.

Actually, I think Darnald has a better all around receiving core than last season and the same running back (Davis left but RoJo is very, very good and started half the games last year). The line, in spite of its losses, has become stronger and faster, and just a tiny bit smaller. If Darnald regresses, it won't be about the guys around him, it will be about the film on him. But, that film only helps when your defense is able to figure out a guy that extends plays an extra two seconds, is every bit as comfortable in the pocket as he is out (and he's very comfortable), and can throw the ball across his body 20 yards down field at the sideline.

That's another thing Darnold was mostly in the shotgun position compared to Rosen's pro style offense.

Originally posted by ChazBoner:

Originally posted by 49deeznutz:

Gonna have to be really...really bad next year to have a shot at him.

well, i've got good/bad news for you.

let me guess...

Bad news: we still suck next year

Good news: we save up to 10% by switching to GEICO?

Originally posted by GhostOfBaalke:

Originally posted by Lobo49er:
We can't do that without knowing the odds.

It's guessing it'll be about 5.5

People hoping for Sam Darnold be like:

If we plays like he did in the Rose Bowl he is a consensus 1st pick. We can only hope that we suck enough to get a chance at him, or other quality qbs step up.

I personally liked Rosen better, but he didn't play too well last year and he was hurt. Plus a 59% completion rating always seems like a red flag in these parts.

Originally posted by ColorMeBaddFan:

If Darnold repeats what he did as a freshman and even improves as a Sophomore, then we're looking at a generational talent. I've seen a lot of Rosen and Darnold. There's no comparison, Darnold is head and shoulders better. His improvisation and going to his 3rd, 4th options with pass rushers in his face are unbelievable.

When we're talking about guys like Kizer and Rosen being big time prospects, I just don't get it. These guys have a tough time completing 60% of their passes. Darnold as a freshman was connecting on 67% of his passes and USC runs a pro style offense.

By comparison, as a freshman Andrew Luck was only hitting on 56% of his passes and made a leap up to 70% as sophomore.

You sure they run a pro style offense? Looked a lot like spread from the two games I saw, plus like every pass play he had was from shotgun.

Originally posted by GhostOfBaalke:

Originally posted by ColorMeBaddFan:
If Darnold repeats what he did as a freshman and even improves as a Sophomore, then we're looking at a generational talent. I've seen a lot of Rosen and Darnold. There's no comparison, Darnold is head and shoulders better. His improvisation and going to his 3rd, 4th options with pass rushers in his face are unbelievable.

When we're talking about guys like Kizer and Rosen being big time prospects, I just don't get it. These guys have a tough time completing 60% of their passes. Darnold as a freshman was connecting on 67% of his passes and USC runs a pro style offense.

By comparison, as a freshman Andrew Luck was only hitting on 56% of his passes and made a leap up to 70% as sophomore.

You sure they run a pro style offense? Looked a lot like spread from the two games I saw, plus like every pass play he had was from shotgun.

They run a "pro-ish" type offense. In respect to the pass, the QB has a read progression and must make adjustments at the line. I'm a SC guy and have to agree with your observation, I can't recall seeing him under center all that much, but I know for a fact I've seen him directly under center. SC's offense goes to a more power under center single back when they get to the red-zone. But, between the 20's, where Darnald did a LOT of scoring and spectacular passing, I think he was out of the shotgun.

I also know SC had to move him under center for some games because their center got hurt and the new guy wasn't the best mid snapper.

So we're officially starting the Darnold countdown clock

That only thing that concerns me about Cousins if we were to get him is his price. I'm fine with his age because early 30's is usually the prime for QB's anyway, and yeah he hasn't won a playoff game yet but he's only started two seasons. We could get a good ~7-8 seasons out of him if we sign him next year and it works out, and if it REALLY works out, could be a playoff contender for the latter five of those years.

The upside to Darnold is basically many more years and a cheaper price (to start out anyway). Whether or not he pans out is still a huge gamble.