Joe Flacco Makes His Feelings on Being a Mentor to Shedeur Sanders Very Clear

Street Knowledge

Veteran
Supporter
Joined
May 2, 2012
Messages
26,540
Reputation
2,451
Daps
63,961
Reppin
NYC
Joe Flacco, a veteran quarterback entering his 18th NFL season, responded to the idea that he should serve as a mentor to fifth-round draft pick Shedeur Sanders during a recent press conference at the Cleveland Browns’ Organized Team Activities (OTAs).

When asked about mentoring younger quarterbacks like Sanders and third-round pick Dillon Gabriel, Flacco deftly navigated a potentially loaded question, refusing to be boxed in by the narrative.

“It’s a good question to bait somebody into answering, and no matter how they answer it, it kind of makes the guy that’s answering it look bad,” Flacco replied. “If I say, ‘I don’t want to be a mentor,’ I look bad. If I say, ‘I do want to be a mentor,’ then I look like an idiot that doesn’t care about being good and playing football.”

Ah, gotta love those media types who just shimmy with excitement at the first opportunity to cause a rift between a quarterback and the person they’d like to see as his eventual replacement.

The Browns don’t need any help in the drama department, however. They’ve done it to themselves.

The high-profile Sanders was drafted into an organization with an already crowded locker full of quarterbacks, including veterans like Flacco, Deshaun Watson, and the recently acquired Kenny Pickett, not to mention Gabriel.

Flacco on Mentoring Shedeur Sanders​

At least Flacco didn’t skirt the issue or skip the question, knowing, as he stated, there would be no answer he could provide that would reflect positively on him.

Instead, he highlighted his commitment to professionalism over forced mentorship. You can see the exact moment the press will run with the angle that there’s friction between Flacco and Shedeur Sanders with his follow-up comments.

“I tend to try to be honest, and I’ve said, ‘I’m not a mentor. I play football.’ And in a quarterback room, there’s a lot of times — already, there’s been already a ton of times — where there’s learning experiences and I have a lot of experience, and I can talk on things, and hopefully they listen,” explained Flacco.

“But it’s not necessarily my job to make sure they listen to me,” he added. “Hey, hopefully you have a really good relationship with the guys that are in the room, and you naturally want to do that.”

In other words, Shedeur will be mentored by simply observing, listening, and keeping his mouth shut. But it’s on him, not Flacco.

 

Brozay

Veteran
Supporter
Joined
May 1, 2012
Messages
63,864
Reputation
7,325
Daps
183,721
unless they specifically discussed w/ Flacco when signing him about offering mentorship to two rookie QBs, then this is such a non story, which I think Flacco acknowledges well with his comments. The guy is a year removed from winning comeback player of the year with the Browns after helping them with that playoff push. He probably has a legitimate chance to be their QB week one, which sounds crazy, but its just the situation that QB room is in right now. Im sure he'll help the rookies by just being in the QB room and sharing/discussing things with them, this story that he needs to devote his entire year to being a "mentor" and not a football player is stupid IMO, its such a nonstory just created for a media headline
 

Controversy

Superstar
Joined
May 29, 2015
Messages
15,152
Reputation
-51
Daps
38,788
Reppin
Philly
I want Shedeur to have the best opportunity to succeed...I think that entails him sitting, watching & learning from Flacco the first 8 wks...and then starting after the bye week in wk 10, which effectively gives him 2 wks to prepare for his first start

I'm pulling for Shedeur
 

Thavoiceofthevoiceless

Veteran
Supporter
Joined
Aug 26, 2019
Messages
45,685
Reputation
7,256
Daps
141,330
Reppin
The Voiceless Realm
unless they specifically discussed w/ Flacco when signing him about offering mentorship to two rookie QBs, then this is such a non story, which I think Flacco acknowledges well with his comments. The guy is a year removed from winning comeback player of the year with the Browns after helping them with that playoff push. He probably has a legitimate chance to be their QB week one, which sounds crazy, but its just the situation that QB room is in right now. Im sure he'll help the rookies by just being in the QB room and sharing/discussing things with them, this story that he needs to devote his entire year to being a "mentor" and not a football player is stupid IMO, its such a nonstory just created for a media headline
The Brown's media has been trying to create a QB controversy all offseason long even resorting to being completely unprofessional about it and on hot mics.

Exactly, why I don't blame teams for passing on Shedeur even with not being his fault.
 

mozichrome

Veteran
Supporter
Joined
Oct 17, 2012
Messages
86,653
Reputation
3,745
Daps
125,615
Reppin
NULL
Man watching colts game last year it looked like Flacco didn't have a care in the world when AR was on sidelines going over stuff with others
 

Yapdatfool

Superstar
Joined
May 5, 2012
Messages
8,650
Reputation
1,286
Daps
22,767
Reppin
NULL
Joe Flacco, a veteran quarterback entering his 18th NFL season, responded to the idea that he should serve as a mentor to fifth-round draft pick Shedeur Sanders during a recent press conference at the Cleveland Browns’ Organized Team Activities (OTAs).

When asked about mentoring younger quarterbacks like Sanders and third-round pick Dillon Gabriel, Flacco deftly navigated a potentially loaded question, refusing to be boxed in by the narrative.

“It’s a good question to bait somebody into answering, and no matter how they answer it, it kind of makes the guy that’s answering it look bad,” Flacco replied. “If I say, ‘I don’t want to be a mentor,’ I look bad. If I say, ‘I do want to be a mentor,’ then I look like an idiot that doesn’t care about being good and playing football.”

Ah, gotta love those media types who just shimmy with excitement at the first opportunity to cause a rift between a quarterback and the person they’d like to see as his eventual replacement.

The Browns don’t need any help in the drama department, however. They’ve done it to themselves.

The high-profile Sanders was drafted into an organization with an already crowded locker full of quarterbacks, including veterans like Flacco, Deshaun Watson, and the recently acquired Kenny Pickett, not to mention Gabriel.

Flacco on Mentoring Shedeur Sanders​

At least Flacco didn’t skirt the issue or skip the question, knowing, as he stated, there would be no answer he could provide that would reflect positively on him.

Instead, he highlighted his commitment to professionalism over forced mentorship. You can see the exact moment the press will run with the angle that there’s friction between Flacco and Shedeur Sanders with his follow-up comments.

“I tend to try to be honest, and I’ve said, ‘I’m not a mentor. I play football.’ And in a quarterback room, there’s a lot of times — already, there’s been already a ton of times — where there’s learning experiences and I have a lot of experience, and I can talk on things, and hopefully they listen,” explained Flacco.

“But it’s not necessarily my job to make sure they listen to me,” he added. “Hey, hopefully you have a really good relationship with the guys that are in the room, and you naturally want to do that.”

In other words, Shedeur will be mentored by simply observing, listening, and keeping his mouth shut. But it’s on him, not Flacco.


This is NOT what Flacco said and this is very poor journalism to throw this in here 'in other words' like he needs a translation.
 

Maliciouslarynx

All Star
Joined
Jun 4, 2012
Messages
1,362
Reputation
396
Daps
3,403
Reppin
NULL
Meh Flacco has been down this road and is crossing his Ts


According to Robert Griffin III on a new episode of his podcast RGIII and The Ones, a rookie Jackson didn't receive much hands-on assistance from a certain important Baltimore Ravens veteran -- Joe Flacco. The former Baltimore quarterback, who helped the franchise win Super Bowl 47 in 2013, didn't actively mentor Jackson when he was a rookie in 2018. It was more "by example." Per Griffin III, it sometimes got to the point where meetings and interactions between Flacco and Jackson were palpably "awkward."
 

Thavoiceofthevoiceless

Veteran
Supporter
Joined
Aug 26, 2019
Messages
45,685
Reputation
7,256
Daps
141,330
Reppin
The Voiceless Realm
Top