The San Francisco 49ers has been associated with practically all the defenders available in this off-season. Sam Darnold was no exception. There were enough national NFL reporters putting the 49ers’ name in the mix when Darnold appeared, who looked like the club could make its big defender move in this off-season. Although the notion of such an agreement died out when San Francisco was negotiated for third place in this year’s draft, the switch from Carolina to Darnold offered a view of what the 49ers avoided.
It seemed that any deal the 49ers made for Darnold would have to cost a late choice in the draft and nothing more. Reports of the Jets asking for a second round choice in exchange for the signal caller were especially worrying, since this change would almost guarantee that Darnold would get another contract with the 49ers.
It ended up costing a second round choice and more to take away the former general third choice of the Jets.
Carolina had no competitors for Darnold according to Ian Rapaport of NFL Media, and they even paid for a sixth round selection in 2021, a second round choice in 2022 and a 2022 choice in the fourth round. This is very steep for the 49ers, even though they know they moved three choices from the first round and a selection from the third round to jump nine positions in this year’s draft. Darnold’s price would probably have inflated if there had been competition in the commercial market.
Adding Darnold to bring along with the Garoppolo era would have felt like a sideways move that did not substantially update the QB point for the 49ers. To begin with, skipping this deal seemed like the right choice, but the Panthers’ three-choice deal to acquire it confirmed that.