Sam Darnold shares tip for Shedeur Sanders, other young NFL quarterbacks

The biggest story that played out during the 2025 NFL draft was the unexpected slide by Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders. Projected as the No. 2 quarterback prospect in this class behind No. 1 overall pick Cam Ward, Sanders was expected to come off the board no later than the second round, but he wound up falling all the way to the fifth when the Cleveland Browns took him after trading up with the Seattle Seahawks for the No. 144 overall pick.

That means Sanders will have to earn the starting quarterback job by winning the competition in a crowded quarterback room - which includes former Oregon QB Dillon Gabriel, who was drafted 50 picks earlier - as well as Kenny Pickett, the ghost of Deshaun Watson and Joe Flacco.

Seattle's new starter Sam Darnold didn't slide in the draft - going to the New York Jets at No. 3 overall. However, his NFL career got off to about as bad a beginning as possible, throwing a pick-six on his very first attempt and continuing to struggle for the next three years as one of the worst starting quarterbacks in the league.

It took Darnold time but he's since come back around and last season he finally had his big break-through with the Minnesota Vikings - at last beginning to live up to his potential as a top-five overall pick. Along the way Darnold learned a few things, and it seems he's happy to share them.

Here's what Darnold said he'd advise Shedeur Sanders and other young QBs to do in a recent interview, per The Mirror.

Sam Darnold's advice for Shedeur Sanders

"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."

Whether it was justified or not, part of the story coming out of Sanders' slide was that teams weren't sure how he'd handle a backup QB situation and if he'd be supportive of the starter. However, the much more likely scenario was also reported to be that some coaches were leery of possibly being replaced by Deion Sanders - even though he just signed a five-year extension with Colorado.

Whatever the reason, Sanders will have to work his way up from the bottom the way Darnold eventually had to. For now, old man Joe Flacco appears to be the favorite to start for the Browns.