As the San Francisco 49ers signed Mac Jones to be the backup for starting quarterback Brock Purdy, the young signal-caller could follow the path of another former first-round pick in Sam Darnold. While people question the new 49ers quarterback in Jones being a starter in the NFL, he could regain that ability with his current squad.

ESPN's Bill Barnwell released his latest column talking about certain offseason signings, where he highlighted Jones with San Francisco, saying that Darnold did the same when it looked like his career was down. As head coach Kyle Shanahan is known to be a quarterback guru or whisperer, he could help Jones in unlocking possibly some untapped potential.

“If there's one player attempting to explicitly go on the Darnold rejuvenation path, it's Jones,” Barnwell wrote. “Darnold restarted his career by joining the 49ers in 2023, where he spent the season as a backup to Brock Purdy. Darnold threw only 46 passes in a San Francisco uniform, most of which came in a meaningless Week 18 game against the Rams. Working with coach Kyle Shanahan apparently did enough to rebuild Darnold's confidence before he left for a one-year deal with Minnesota, though. You know what happened next.”

49ers' Mac Jones and Sam Darnold share some similarities 

Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Mac Jones (10) warms up during the fourth quarter Sunday, Dec. 29, 2024 at EverBank Stadium in Jacksonville, Fla. The Jaguars held off the Titans 20-13. [Corey Perrine/Florida Times-Union]
© Corey Perrine/Florida Times-Union / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
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49ers' head coach is excited to work with Jones, the 26-year-old is a former first-round pick, taken by the New England Patriots with the 15th overall pick in 2021. Despite Darnold being taken second overall in 2018, his first stint with the New York Jets was up-and-down until he bounced around teams and made his way to San Francisco to rejuvenate his career, which showed with the Minnesota Vikings.

“Like Darnold, Jones was once regarded as a promising young quarterback, only for his game to fall apart amid injuries, porous offensive lines and questionable coaching,” Barnwell wrote. “That story was always a little too simplistic — the Patriots did a great job of protecting him in obvious passing situations as a rookie — but whatever confidence he had quickly fell by the wayside. He spent most of his sophomore season arguing with Matt Patricia and Joe Judge. In Year 3, with undrafted rookie DeMario Douglas as his top wideout, he was benched for Bailey Zappe.”

It remains to be seen if Jones will follow the same path, but he will back up Purdy for now as San Francisco opens the season, funny enough, against Darnold and the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday, Sept. 7.