Sam Darnold now has two experiences with ghosts.
The former Jets quarterback, who is in the running for the 49ers’ starting job after signing with the team this offseason, was staying in star tight end George Kittle’s pool house this summer during OTAs when he had a few encounters that he could only label as paranormal.
Darnold said he moved out of Kittle’s house when he got his own place, but shared on Barstool’s “Pardon My Take” podcast that he was fairly certain the tight end’s house could be haunted.
“I woke up, and you know how sometimes you have a dream and then you wake up and you feel like you can’t move for like maybe four or five seconds, whatever it is?” Darnold said.
“I felt that, and I woke up, it was like 3 a.m., went to go take a pee and, you know, came back, fell right asleep. And then, that next night, the same thing happened, and I couldn’t, like, I had to keep focusing on this thing … there was something else in the room.
“But it was just like super, super weird, and it just felt like when I woke up there was something, like, holding on to me, and then that next night, I … felt that something was in the room with me, and it was … the freakiest thing. I’m like getting chills talking about it right now, but that’s never happened to me before.”
Hosts PFT Commenter and Big Cat joked to Darnold that he could have seen the “hat man,” a ghostlike figure frequently seen when people have sleep apparitions, but a shaken Darnold denied it.
Darnold, the Jets’ No. 3 overall pick in 2018, was traded to the Panthers in 2021 after three unfulfilling seasons in New York.
That included one particularly brutal “Monday Night Football” performance against the Patriots in 2019 when ESPN cameras caught Darnold saying on the sideline he was “seeing ghosts.”
Darnold finished that 33-0 defeat by completing 11-of-32 passes for 86 yards and four interceptions.
He has emerged as a potential pick for the San Francisco starting role after injuries to breakout star Brock Purdy and former No. 3 pick Trey Lance.
“I’ve known him for a couple of years now, so getting the opportunity to play with him is really exciting,” Kittle recently told The Post of Darnold.
“He’s got a lot of talent and a great arm, but overall I’ve really noticed how he interacts with the other guys. He’s super positive towards everybody and has a relationship with people; he’s not shy and I think that’s what you need in a quarterback. I’m really happy to have him here.”