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One of the NFL’s biggest storylines this preseason will be in Berea, Ohio, as the Cleveland Browns will have an intriguing quarterback competition featuring their fifth-round pick, Shedeur Sanders.
Sanders, Joe Flacco, Kenny Pickett and third-round pick Dillon Gabriel will all be vying for the same job, but the spotlight will be bright on the Colorado signal caller after his NFL Draft slide to the fifth round made national headlines.
Sanders went from being a first-round lock to a fifth-round selection that had many scratching their heads, debating about his fit in Cleveland after they just selected Gabriel to make him the third quarterback on the depth chart, next to Flacco and Pickett.
While it is expected Flacco will get the first crack at winning the job, Sanders will have chances to compete with his new teammates to potentially land the starting role.
A quarterback competition is something Sam Darnold, the Seattle Seahawks’ new quarterback, has been through in his career. He had a bit of advice for the young Sanders, who is getting his first taste of a training camp battle.
“I think the biggest thing is having respect,” Darnold told Fox News Digital, while discussing his time with the Lowe’s Foundation at SkillsUSA National Signing Day in Seattle. “Having respect for the teammates that you’re competing with.”
TRUMP DETAILS HIS INVOLVEMENT IN SHEDEUR SANDERS’ CLOSELY-WATCHED FALL IN NFL DRAFT
While it is a competition, it is important to remember these are also teammates chasing the same goal: winning a Super Bowl.
After his failed stint with the New York Jets, who took him third overall in the 2018 NFL Draft, Darnold bounced around multiple teams and had to fight his way into the position he was with the Minnesota Vikings last season. Even there, Darnold fought to win the starting quarterback role, and he earned his place to choose his next team in free agency this offseason.
Darnold specifically looked back at his time with the Carolina Panthers, where the player who went two picks before him in that 2018 draft, Baker Mayfield, was his main competition in 2022.
“I was in a quarterback competition in my second year in Carolina with Baker. Me and Baker are still really close to this day, and we both had such a genuine respect for one another,” Darnold explained. “Sometimes, it wasn’t exactly clear who was getting the 1’s reps or 2’s reps that day. But when our number was called, whether it was me or Bake going out there with the 1’s, it was just like, ‘All right, go out there.’
“Then, in the individual drills that day, if I was getting the 1’s reps, Bake would let me take like Christian [McCaffrey] on a route or D.J. Moore on a route. It was always that respect. Then, if it was flipped, if Bake was taking the 1’s reps, I would let him take all the guys he was going to be running with that day.
“I think whether it’s Shedeur or anyone else, I think just having respect for those guys in the quarterbacks room and helping everybody get better. That’s the biggest thing at this point in the season, helping everybody get better. When you do that, you get better yourself, more than you even know.”
As of now, there is a good chance Sanders is not the one under center in Week 1 to begin the Browns’ 2025 campaign. How he handles waiting in the wings for his time to shine will also be in the national spotlight.
If that moment comes, Darnold wants Sanders to think team first.
“When Bake got the nod for Week 1, I was like, ‘I’m here for you. Anything you need, if you want me to watch tape of certain third-down looks or any blitz packages the defense might have, I’m here for you,'” Darnold said. “It’s that kind of way in the quarterbacks room, and there’s nothing that simulates that in the real world.”
CELEBRATING NEXT GENERATION OF TRADE WORKERS
While Darnold is getting his bearings in his new city, he made sure to stop by Lowe’s Seattle store ceremony for SkillsUSA National Signing Day, which is a celebration mirroring the excitement of athletic signings but for future electricians, plumbers, HVAC techs and builders.
Lowe’s rolled out the blue carpet and all for students, who were surprised by Seattle’s newest football star, and this initiative is one that hits close to home for Darnold. His father, Mike, has been a plumber for 30-plus years.
“It was unbelievable,” Darnold said of the experience. “I’ve seen the hard work that he put in his entire life to it. So, just being able to see these kids and see the hard work they’ve already put in, get to meet them and talk to them about the path that they’re headed, and just how passionate they are about it.
“I think there’s so many more opportunities out there in the skill trades world, and me and my dad have talked about it, how there’s not a lot of kids doing that anymore. It’s a special opportunity for kids to impact their communities in ways they probably don’t even know they’re going to.”
New data from ADP shows nearly one in five workers aged 20-24 held blue-collar jobs as of May 2023. While that was a 2% rise since 2019, the U.S. faces a shortage of 439,000 construction workers.
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