Former Panthers QB Sam Darnold praised as ‘most talented thrower’ 49ers have ever had

Did the Carolina Panthers just have a quarterback with a better arm than Joe Montana, Steve Young and Colin Kaepernick? And did they just let him walk?

According to a longtime San Francisco 49ers beat reporter, that could be the case.

NBC Sports Bay Area’s Matt Maiocco joined the Murph & Mac Podcast on Thursday and spoke a bit about Sam Darnold—who signed with the Niners this offseason. He believes, well, just read it for yourself . . .

“He might be — can I say this — the most talented thrower of the football that the 49ers have ever had,” Maiocco said. “Let’s just put him in the very high echelon of guys who can just drop back in the pocket and throw the football. I think that he hasn’t really had any chance to succeed since his college days are over. I think he’s had four head coaches in five years, five offensive coordinators in five years. He’s a talented guy.”

That’s quite a bit of praise for the former No. 3 overall pick—who, in those five years, has yet to live up to his billing. (And that’d also be some pretty rough news for the Panthers, who moved heaven and earth to get themselves a franchise quarterback over the past few months.)

While Darnold’s time in Carolina ended on a relative high note, he closed up that tenure having completed 59.5 percent of his throws for 3,670 yards, 16 touchdowns and 16 interceptions over 18 games. His ghastly stint with the New York Jets prior to that, obviously, wasn’t too hot either.

But, hey, who knows what this talented guy could do under head coach Kyle Shanahan? If he turned Mr. Irrelevant into a stud, maybe it won’t be that difficult to get something out of the most gifted thrower this storied franchise has ever seen.

And with that being said, do you think Joe passed the torch down to Sam on Thursday night . . . ?

Joe & Jennifer are here at #Warriors #Lakers

Courtside on baseline are #49ers George Kittle, Christian McCaffrey and Sam Darnold pic.twitter.com/7RIFwkv23T

— Cam Inman (@CamInman) May 5, 2023