Could Sam Darnold Continue to Start After the Bengals Game?

If Sam Darnold starts and plays impressively, then there is a case to be made that Kyle Shanahan would go with the "hot hand" in Darnold.

Well this out of the blue.

Kyle Shanahan announced at his press conference on Wednesday that Brock Purdy is in the concussion protocol. Until his symptoms begin to mitigate, he will not be practicing. Because of that, his availability for Week 8 against the Bengals is in flux. Backup quarterback Sam Darnold who was signed in the offseason would be in line to make his debut start in the red and gold.

“I have as much confidence in Sam as I could have with someone that I haven't gone into a real NFL game with," said Kyle Shanahan. "He was great in the offseason. He's been great here in these seven weeks so far and he's always ready to go. He's great in the meetings and stuff. He doesn't get many reps, as no backups do, but he does it well on the scout team, he’s always good in the meetings. We got mainly walk-through today, so Brock's allowed to do some of the walk-through. We've got a couple periods that aren't, so Sam will get those periods.”

It will be intriguing to see how Darnold will look as the starter. This is the first time in his career where he is surrounded by strong talent and has an excellent play caller. It's not out of the realm of possibility that he looks solid and helps the 49ers to victory this week over the Bengals. But what happens if he looks better than solid? Let's say that Darnold goes out there and looks impressive. He would get looked at in a new light. One that I would suspect Shanahan starts to consider giving Darnold another start.

Could Darnold continue to start after the Bengals game?

I truly believe that if Darnold does start and looks impressive against the Bengals that Shanahan could pull a Jim Harbaugh and go with the "hot hand" at quarterback. Purdy in his last two games has not been good. He hasn't looked like the optimizing quarterback that was on display in the first five games. And it's not like Shanahan has to start Purdy. He doesn't have a contract that says he needs to start, which is part of why the 49ers could never sit Jimmy Garoppolo over Trey Lance in 2021.

Meanwhile, Darnold has a contract that indicates he can get some starts besides being a fill-in. It's loaded with incentives. All Shanahan has done since Darnold was signed is rave about him that goes beyond typical "coach speak" in pressers. There is some infatuation he has with Darnold, which I'm sure he'd love to see how Darnold will look in his offense. I personally don't think Darnold can take the starting job from Purdy. It's unlikely that Darnold looks impressive. I'd bet against that for sure.

But in the off chance that he does or perhaps Shanahan see's something he likes that was enough, it is not crazy to see Shanahan stick with him for a while longer. You just never know with him in regards to the quarterback position.