INDIANAPOLIS — (AP) — Shedeur Sanders and Cam Ward stood one podium apart Friday, each making his case to be the first quarterback selected in this year's NFL draft at the same moment.
They couldn’t have taken more different approaches.
Sanders arrived in a sparkly necklace and spoke with the same brash confidence that defined the career of his longtime coach and Hall of Fame father, Deion Sanders. Ward delivered a blue-collar message, describing his six-year journey from overlooked Texas prep player to Heisman Trophy finalist and now, perhaps, to being the first pick in April.
And yet, these two college stars managed to cast aside the playful, public verbal barbs to show a mutual respect on one of the most crucial stages in football.
“We’ll both end up being one of the best quarterbacks in the league,” Ward said. “We play around, we joke around with it (who will be first), but it really doesn’t mean nothing. At the end of the day, you’ve got to show you can improve each and every Sunday. You can’t just do it one year. You’ve got to do it each and every time you step on the field.”
League scouts will have to wait until the players' college pro days to get an actual glimpse of this year’s top two quarterbacks because Ward and Sanders reiterated they would not work out Saturday with the quarterbacks, running backs and receivers in Indianapolis.
Instead, these two added their names to a long list of top prospects opting to wait to show their stuff on familiar turf while throwing to college teammates. The list includes Caleb Williams, Bryce Young and Joe Burrow, all quarterbacks who were chosen No. 1 overall.
There’s no telling yet if Ward or Sanders will be next, but each has plenty of tape for scouts to pore through since both started 50 or more games while playing at multiple colleges.
Sanders and his father used their flashy style to help revive programs at Jackson State in Mississippi before repeating the feat at Colorado. Ward threw an NCAA record 158 TD passes as he ascended from FCS star at Incarnate Word in Texas to became Washington State's starter before nearly leading Miami to the CFP playoffs.
This week, though, Sanders and Ward seem virtually inseparable as they stroll through the Indianapolis Convention Center hallways, part of the same quarterback group as they ponder their futures and how to sell themselves to coaches and general managers.
“If you ain’t trying to change the franchise then don’t get me,” Sanders said. “You should know history repeats itself over and over and over, and I’ve done it over and over and over, so there should be no question why an NFL franchise should pick me.”
While there’s little debate over their productivity or penchant for winning, there are plenty of questions to answer.
At 6-foot-2, 215 pounds, Sanders possesses good size, a solid arm, mobility in the pocket and the kind of strong personality needed from a locker room leader. Still, he must show the throws he made into tight windows in college will not become interceptions in the NFL and he needs to eliminate his propensity for taking sacks. Others wonder if his father’s influence might become a problem.
Sanders shrugged off any such doubts.
“You think I’m worried about what critics say or what people got to say? You know who my dad is? They hated on him, too,” Shedeur Sanders said. “So it’s almost normal. Without people hating, it’s not normal for us. We like the adversity. We like everything that comes with the name. That’s why we are who we are.”
Ward is slightly bigger at 6-2, 223 pounds, has a stronger arm, a quicker release and throws with more velocity. But he can struggle with accuracy and his ability to read coverages.
And while he’s more reserved as a public speaker than Sanders, those who have played with Ward insist he has a different personality in the locker room.
“Everybody sees what he does on the field, his confidence and everything, but the biggest thing I would say is the type of leader he is,” former Miami tight end Elijah Arroyo said Thursday. “He’s not afraid to hold people accountable. He wants to win, and he holds the team to a certain standard and he doesn’t care how he’s going to get his point across.”
But with no clear-cut favorite entering or leaving combine week, the debate over who’s better will only continue to rage as they hold campus workouts and fly around the country for team interviews.
They just believe one thing: Both will be successful, wherever they land.
“I just think the work me and him are willing to put in, the relationship we have to constantly compete each and every day to better our craft and ourselves,” Ward said, “I just think it’s going to end up paying off for us in the long run.”
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