Sanchez the anti-Bradford when it comes to Broncos drafting a QB

 

By now you’ve seen Sam Bradford in the news for all the wrong reasons. The Eagles quarterback, who signed a two-year, $36 million deal with this offseason and already has $11 million of that in his pocket, has been—shall we say—salty, extremely salty ever since his team executed a trade to obtain the No. 2 overall pick, a pick they would eventually use on quarterback Carson Wentz.

Despite Eagles GM Howie Roseman insisting Bradford would still be the starter, the former No. 1 overall pick demanded a trade and has since been absent from Eagles organized team activities.

On Monday, after the first day of the second phase of the Denver Broncos organized team activities a very present Mark Sanchez addressed the media—standing in the same situation the Bradford stands, his team having just executed a trade to draft a quarterback in the first round—and, well, he couldn’t have handled the situation any more differently than his former teammate in Philadelphia.

“They don’t owe me that,” he said of whether the team talked to him about drafting Paxton Lunch. “They don’t owe me anything like that or any of the players on the team. This is their team and they’re going to do exactly what they want to do. I think the message is clear so we’ll roll with that but I’m excited to be a part of it.”

The message, similarly to the message in Philly, is that Sanchez is still expected to be the starter come Week 1. If anything, Sanchez interpreted the pick as a vote of confidence that he can be the starter while Lynch develops.

“Absolutely, that’s been the message I’ve received,” he said of the vote of confidence. “So I’m thrilled about this opportunity.”

“Whether it was a veteran that came in, any of the names that were out there, or any of these guys in the draft that are becoming pros this year, my focus wouldn’t change,” he added. “The most important thing for me was to get involved with the players here, meet these guys, develop a relationship, learn this playbook as fast as I can, get involved with the community and establish myself as a leader of this football team. That’s going to take time, that’s going to take reps no matter who was here, It happens to be Paxton, we’re happy, he’s a great talent, he’s going to add to our quarterback room and it’s going to make it fun.”

With seven years in the league under his belt, Sanchez has “100-percent” learned to take a control-what-you-can-control attitude towards anything that happens outside of the lines.

“You get into this offseason mode, even in the last couple of years, you feel like, ‘Okay this is what’s going to happen,'” he told. “You start thinking too much of the big picture and if something changes or alters your plan it could adjust your emotions and why let that happen?

“Why become a slave to your emotions like that?” He asked. “It’s not worth it, you’re spinning your wheels for nothing. I just kind of learned with time and a little more experience in this offseason stuff, who knows what’s going to happen and who cares? What’re you supposed to do? Meet your teammates, develop a relationship with them, learn the playbook, get involved in the community and that’s it. I’ve had a blast doing that the last couple of weeks.”

It seems to come up a lot, this conundrum. The one that sticks out is Brett Favre saying, “It’s not in my contract to mentor Aaron Rodgers.” It even came up here in Denver when the Broncos drafted Brock Osweiler—is the wily veteran going to groom the talented new guy just so the younger, cheaper option can eventually take his job?

It all reminds me of something a college coach once told me about recruiting, “It’s our job to recruit players that take our current players’ jobs,” he said. “It’s our current players’ job to make our job difficult.”

Sanchez seems to have a similar outlook.

“If you’re confident in your abilities, you have no problem helping a guy,” he explained. “Whether it’s protections, reads, footwork anything like that… If you see something, whether it’s on the field or off the field, you just help them out as much as you can… I think coming here will be the perfect situation for [Lynch], meaning he’s going to a great team and he’ll have a veteran guy in the room. There are a lot of things that will help him along the way.”

While, to this point, Sanchez has simply congratulated Lynch on his big day, he offered a bit of advice through the media on Monday.

“Just keep your head down and work, that’s kind of what I tried to do,” told the veteran QB. “Watch the other guys, find a couple veterans that have lasted in this league and have been successful in this league and just kind of follow them around until they shoo you away.”

Sure sound like Sanchez is the guy Lynch should be following.

It’s refreshing to see a player like Sanchez with such a clear outlook on things. The way he approaches the questions on Monday almost had a, “How could I possibly be salty about this?” feel to them. The quarterback has his goals laid out and he’s checking them off quickly.

Develop a relationship with your teammates: He went a long way towards achieving that by hosting “Broncos Beach” in Southern California when he rented a house out for him and some of his receiving threats to begin to build chemistry. He unsurprisingly turned the praise on them for showing up, saying, “That kind of stuff means a lot for a quarterback. It’s tough to find guys like that.”

Learn the playbook: That seems to be coming along, “I feel great for day one of phase two.”

Get involved in the community: Sanchez been helping out in the Broncos community outreach, spending a recent Saturday offering advice to young players at the Futures Football Championships and just this week helping with Baskets of Hope arranging gifts for children in the hospital.

Sanchez’ last stated goal was to become a leader of this team, this one takes the most time and can only be judged by his teammates but if you listen to the things they’re saying about him, it sounds like he’s making great progress there, as well.

“It costs a lot of money for those compliments,” he says with a smile.

The guy just gets it.