What Sam Darnold Has Learned from Brock Purdy

SANTA CLARA -- The New Sam Darnold will make his NFL debut this Sunday against the Rams.

I call him the New Sam Darnold because I assume he has grown tremendously during his year with the 49ers. That's why he signed here. So he could be coached by Kyle Shanahan and he could soak up game and knowledge from the 49ers starting quarterback, Brock Purdy.

What exactly has Darnold learned from Purdy this year?

"A lot," Darnold said on Thursday. "Brock is, just in terms of his process, what he does to get ready for the game, he studies a ton and he's very meticulous about that. And just the way he goes about reading the defense, he does exactly how he's coached and like he just got done telling you guys, he stays within himself better than any quarterback I've been around in terms of just taking what the defense gives him and obviously there's a time and place to be aggressive and try to make throws, but I think he's very poised in certain situations to be able to just check the ball down and live to fight another day."  

TRANSLATION: Darnold is a dink and dunk quarterback who succeeds because he studies a ton, he does what Kyle Shanahan tells him to do and he's not too proud to check the ball down.

Sounds like a backhanded compliment.

If that's all it takes to play well in the 49ers offense, let's see what Darnold does this weekend. Based on what he said, he should perform quite well.