Breaking: Rams’ top players, such as quarterback And defensive lineman
Darnold could earn big contract incentive with 49ers’ win vs. Rams originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
The 49ers’ regular-season finale neither can improve nor harm their NFL playoff seeding.
But it can give a nice boost to quarterback Sam Darnold’s bank account.
Darnold will make his first start with the 49ers on Sunday, as coach Kyle Shanahan has opted to keep Pro Bowl quarterback Brock Purdy on the sideline. Brandon Allen will serve as the 49ers’ backup Sunday.
As part of the contract that Darnold signed with the 49ers in March, he receives a $300,000 incentive for every game in which he plays at least 25 percent of the offensive snaps and the 49ers win.
The 49ers (13-4) conclude the regular season Sunday at Levi’s Stadium against the Los Angeles Rams (9-7). San Francisco is locked into the NFC’s No. 1 playoff seed, and will have home-field advantage and a first-round bye in the playoffs.
The Rams also are heading for the playoffs, as they will be either the NFC’s No. 6 or No. 7 seed, and open the postseason next weekend. Coach Sean McVay announced that some of the Rams’ top players, such as quarterback Matthew Stafford and defensive lineman Aaron Donald, will not suit up.
General manager John Lynch said this week that Darnold turned down more lucrative contract offers as an unrestricted free agent to sign with the 49ers. Purdy started the first 16 games of the season, so Darnold has seen little playing time entering Week 18, with just 69 snaps in nine contests.
When asked this week if he has any second thoughts about his decision to sign with the 49ers, Darnold answered: “No. No. Zero regrets.”
Darnold signed a one-year, $4.5 million contract in the offseason, then beat out Trey Lance for the backup job behind Purdy. He also can earn an additional $100,000 for every playoff game in which he plays 50 percent or more of the 49ers’ offensive snaps.
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49ers QB Purdy living up to Shanahan’s ‘real deal’ label
49ers QB Purdy living up to Shanahan’s ‘real deal’ label originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
Kyle Shanahan had plenty of praise for Brock Purdy as the 49ers’ quarterback wraps up his record-setting 2023 NFL season.
During the latest episode of NBC Sports Bay Area’s “49ers Game Plan,” which debuted Friday night, Shanahan explained to Greg Papa what Purdy has meant to him this season with how well the team has been doing with him under center.
“For him to stay healthy through this whole year, to go through all the stuff and really to have the type of year where [it] could have been an MVP-type year, still could be,” Shanahan told Papa. “He definitely played like an MVP.”
Purdy has been on a tear this season, leading the 49ers to the NFC West title as well as the NFC’s best record and a first-round bye in the playoffs, with his name consistently being mentioned in the MVP discussion. Not only that, but Purdy set the franchise record for passing yards in a season, a noteworthy accomplishment considering Hall-of-Fame quarterbacks Joe Montana and Steve Young came before him.
Shanahan made sure to point out how much that record means for Purdy and the 49ers’ offense as a whole.
“For him to set the record that, I mean — how good of an organization do we have with the history, how many quarterbacks have been in through here, how many offenses have and for Brock to do that — it’s a huge [testament] to the whole offense and all those guys,” Shanahan said. “But it’s just so cool for him [Purdy] and it couldn’t have happened to a better guy.”
Purdy’s first Pro Bowl campaign comes on the heels of a wildly successful rookie season last year which saw him rise from the third-string QB to starter in a matter of weeks due to season-ending injuries to Trey Lance and Jimmy Garoppolo. The season was not without its setbacks though as Purdy tore the UCL in his throwing arm in the NFC Championship Game against the Philadelphia Eagles.
There were questions about whether Purdy would return to the same level this season, something Shanahan pointed out was a real concern for the organization at the beginning of the year, but he still was confident in Purdy’s ability to bounce back.
“The way he played as a rookie and those situations, just kind of blew my mind,” Shanahan told Papa. “That’s why we were so confident with him in the offseason, but to have that big of an injury just left so much in question that we were not sure how it was going to go and how he was going to recover. “
Shanahan referred to Purdy as “the real deal” multiple times in the past, something that is not only true but also due to Shanahan’s folksy vocab.
“People bring up me saying ‘the real deal’ and that is just my lack of vocabulary, me just trying to say that what he did last year was real, that wasn’t just lucky and stuff, that was truly playing quarterback at a very high level, and he did it very consistently and that’s all we’ve seen,” Shanahan said.
Purdy, who won’t play in the Week 18 regular-season finale against the Los Angeles Rams, and the 49ers will have plenty of time before they host an NFC Divisional Round game at Levi’s Stadium on either Saturday, Jan 20 or Sunday Jan. 21.
