Is Sam Darnold the Next Alex Smith?
Sam Darnold stinks.
At least that's what everyone says about him. The former top-three pick hasn't even turned 26-years old yet, and everyone has written him off already, just like they wrote off Alex Smith when he was young. And as we know, everyone was wrong about Smith.
Darnold and Smith have lots in common. Both were big-time recruit's coming out of high school in Southern California. Both were top-three picks coming out of college -- Smith was the No. 1 pick, Darnold was the No. 3 pick. Both were drafted to terrible teams with terrible coaches. Both were scapegoated and benched because they tried to do too much, committed lots of turnovers and failed to live up to unreasonable expectations.
Then the 49ers hired Jim Harbaugh, who rebuilt Smith's confidence, convinced him to play like a game manager and protect the football, and suddenly Smith became a winning quarterback. Now Kyle Shanahan is attempting to do the same thing with Darnold, and Shanahan just might succeed.
Compare Darnold's career numbers to Smith's career numbers before Harbaugh coached him.
DARNOLD
21 wins
34 losses
59.7 completion percentage
210.1 passing yards per game
61 touchdown passes
55 interceptions
35 fumbles
SMITH (PRE-HARBAUGH)
19 wins
31 losses
57.1 completion percentage
174.1 passing yards per game
51 touchdown passes
53 interceptions
34 fumbles
Eerily similar statistics, and you could argue Smith's were worse. Which means it certainly is possible Darnold that could turn his career around on the 49ers if he ever gets the chance to play.
But Shanahan will have to prove he can build up a quarterback's confidence the way Harbaugh did. Perhaps that's why Shanahan recently said that Darnold is as talented as any quarterback in the league.
That's exactly what Harbaugh would say.
