it was San Francisco quarterback coach Brain Griese that helped exorcise the demons from Darnold's mind.
Excerpt:
Looking back, Griese, then the 49ers QBs coach, said Darnold was professionally in a “bad frame of mind.” And his poor performance during his first five seasons made it clear to Griese that the No. 3 pick in the 2018 draft was overwhelmed on the field by doubt, which Griese, 50, a former NFL QB, believes can be a “death sentence” for a player at the position.
During their talks, however, Griese became a believer — convinced the Jets flameout could be resurrected based on seven words from one of their conversations. Griese viewed them as evidence the presumed bust wasn’t irrevocably broken.
“He said to me, and I’ll never forget this: ‘I kind of like who I am,’” Griese said. “I thought that was great. And I thought that was a pillar that we could build off with him. He went through so many difficult moments in his career, in those first five years, but he’d developed some emotional resilience.”
SNIP
Now 28, Darnold has often credited his one season as a backup with the 49ers — the year in which he easily played the least in his eight-year career — for having an outsized impact. Before the 49ers, he had a 21-34 record and his passer rating (78.2) ranked last among the 36 QBs who had thrown at least 1,000 passes since 2018. Since his one-start season in Santa Clara, he has a 28-6 record with Minnesota (2024) and Seattle, and his passer rating (100.9) ranks seventh among the 32 QBs with at least 400 attempts the past two seasons.
https://www.sfchronicle.com/sports/49ers/article/sam-darnold-49ers-seahawks-21320075.php
Adds Steve Young (from the link): Here’s the thing you have to know about quarterbacks, and this is true for a lot of positions in the NFL, but nothing more dramatic than a quarterback:
You need tons of help to allow you to go show how great you can be. If you do not get that help, you are limited in how great you can be. Doesn’t mean you can’t be good. But to be great, you need help. And there are not 32 places in the league today that give you that help. In fact, I wouldn’t say there are 15. So I’m saying Sam found the skies parted when he came to San Francisco."
Credit Griese, Kyle Shanahan, and the 2023 San Francisco 49ers for helping -- no,
saving -- Darnold.
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