The San Francisco 49ers have entrenched themselves with another quarterback battle in another offseason, and free agent signing Sam Darnold is at the forefront of the action three days into training camp, where he's arguably looked like the best option thus far, albeit in a small sample size.
While head coach Kyle Shanahan acknowledged that a part of the reasoning for signing Darnold was due to the uncertainty behind quarterback Brock Purdy's health at the time, the former Carolina Panthers signal-caller has split reps with Trey Lance as the No. 2 quarterback, while Brandon Allen serves as the No. 3 option.
How does Darnold view his performance during the first week of training camp?
"Yeah, I think obviously there's some corrections to be made and just got to continue to feel more and more comfortable every single day. But I think it's continuing to challenge myself, just studying as much as I can, before and after practice," Darnold said. "But yeah, I feel like these past three days have been pretty good. Obviously they can be better, but doing everything I can to put myself in a good position during practice."
While he believes there's room for improvement, Darnold has been happy with his decision-making, and pointed to the placement of certain throws as an area of improvement.
"Yeah, I'm happy with the decision-making. Again, the way that we talk about our reads in the QB room, it's very clean. So feel like I'm happy with the decision-making. I feel like a couple balls could have been better throughout these last three days. But yeah, that's just the beginning of camp and continue to iron it out and get better throughout the camp," Darnold said.
On Friday, during a closed practice to the public, one of Darnold's best throws was a downfield shot to Ray-Ray McCloud that went for a solid completion.
It's intriguing to watch how Darnold has performed thus far, understanding that he's still developing in this offense with new faces around him, such as McCloud.
"Yeah, it takes time [to develop rapport with the wide receivers]. I think it's as much as you can," Darnold said. "Obviously, it's tough with camp and all the reps and those guys running so much throughout the day during practice. But whether it's a little bit before, obviously, in the locker room talking about routes and then after practice, getting as many routes as possible but also being smart about staying off your feet. And for us keeping the reps limited with our arms, keeping arms fresh. But yeah, I think it's just the continued dialogue that we have with the receivers and getting a feel with them that way."
Darnold will look to continue competing and gelling with his new teammates when they hit the field for the fourth training camp practice on Sunday.