{"id":722199,"date":"2026-06-24T00:22:21","date_gmt":"2026-06-24T00:22:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/722199\/"},"modified":"2026-06-24T00:22:21","modified_gmt":"2026-06-24T00:22:21","slug":"sam-darnold-i-feel-like-i-got-my-phd-in-football-when-i-went-to-san-francisco","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/722199\/","title":{"rendered":"Sam Darnold: I feel like I got my PhD in football when I went to San Francisco"},"content":{"rendered":"

Before Sam Darnold starred at quarterback for the Vikings and won Super Bowl LX with the Seahawks, he spent a year as the 49ers\u2019 backup to Brock Purdy.<\/p>\n

That 2023 season spent with San Francisco was critical for Darnold\u2019s development.<\/p>\n

Darnold went into that season having spent his first three seasons with the Jets before two seasons with the Panthers. And while Darnold did not play much \u2014 he started an inconsequential Week 18 game against the Carson Wentz-led Rams \u2014 he said in a recent interview that he picked up a lot from his time in the Bay Area.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think for me, it was \u2026 looking at myself in the mirror and just being like, \u2018alright, this is what I need to do this year. I\u2019m not going to get an opportunity to get a starter,\u2019\u201d Darnold said during an appearance in Tuesday\u2019s episode of Bussin\u2019 with the Boys<\/a>. \u201cAnd I think going to San Francisco, I mean, shoot, you guys saw what Mac Jones did this year. I understood that quarterbacks in that system, quarterbacks with Kyle [Shanahan] \u2014 you look at Brock [Purdy] and all the success he\u2019s had there \u2014 quarterbacks just thrive in that system. It\u2019s also because they have really good players.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut, just getting to know that system and getting to know those coaches, like that\u2019s really why I decided to be a backup in San Francisco. I thought that would be the best place to just go. And people say it all the time, and I\u2019ve heard it, but I feel like I got my PhD in football<\/a> when I went to San Francisco.\u201d<\/p>\n

Darnold credited the 49ers\u2019 coaching staff, led by Shanahan, for part of his growth. But he also noted that watching the high-caliber players around him made a significant difference.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve talked about learning from Brock quite a bit,\u201d Darnold said. \u201cBut all the great players that are over there. \u2014 friend of the program George Kittle, Fred Warner, Christian McCaffrey, Trent Williams of course \u2014 you just have all these studs who are over there. And to just learn their habits and stuff that they do in the offseason, how they get better, it was just such a great opportunity for me to just go there and be a sponge, and just learn so much football. Learn how to take care of my body off the field.\u201d<\/p>\n

But it was Purdy who really made a difference, in large part due to the way he presented alternative preparation methods.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t mention Brock enough,\u201d Darnold said. \u201cBut just the way that he prepared really showed me how to really prepare, because you don\u2019t know what you don\u2019t know. And I think for me, being able to go there and see how efficient he was \u2014 because you can put a ton of time in, but you can be doing it the wrong way. And he was so efficient with his time. And he would cut out three or four hours of studying throughout the night because our game plans were crazy. \u2026The system is so intricate.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut that was so fun. It was so fun to go learn football there. And I\u2019m so thankful for that opportunity that I got in San Francisco.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since that time with the 49ers, Darnold has won 14 games in each of the last two seasons for Minnesota and Seattle. In 2025, he completed 67.7 percent of his passes for 4,048 yards with 25 touchdowns and 14 interceptions. In the postseason, he completed 61.5 percent of his throws for 672 yard with five TDs and no picks to earn his first Super Bowl ring.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Before Sam Darnold starred at quarterback for the Vikings and won Super Bowl LX with the Seahawks, he…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":722200,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[63],"tags":[349,99],"class_list":["post-722199","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-nfl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/722199","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=722199"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/722199\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/722200"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=722199"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=722199"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=722199"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}