Heading into the offseason, fellow draftmates Cam Ward and Shedeur Sanders, were often seen jockeying for position atop 2025 NFL Draft boards. While Ward has since separated himself to become the consensus number one overall pick, the two are still linked together by their quarterback coach, Darrell Colbert Jr.
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The man behind the top two signal calling prospects in the nation, Colbert is an SMU graduate who is currently being heralded as one of the best private coaches available today. With the recent success granting him his own share of the spotlight, the Select QB founder sat down for an interview to help further improve the draft stocks of his two most premiere clients.
In the latest installment of The Sick Podcast – Talking Titans, Colbert shared his personal insights on the talents of Ward and Sanders. In highlighting the wealth of experience that both men have, the esteemed coach seemed to suggest it was much easier to work with this current batch of clients.
“I think one of the easiest things is, for both of these guys, they’ve played a lot of football… A lot of pass attempts, a lot of yards, a lot of touchdowns, so they’ve seen a lot of defenses… One of the things we would do is, see a defense and say ‘Okay, how would you attack it here? Why would you attack it this way?’ Just finding different ways to learn about it and get familiar with watching tape.”
While both Sanders and Ward have demonstrated an ability to slow the game down, at least at the college level, Colbert maintains that their talent does not exclude them from working on the fundamentals and basic requirements that come with preparing to play at the next level.
“During this whole draft prep process that we did, on top of the lifting that we did, the on-field stuff that we did, we did stuff in the film room as well. Looking at the teams that you’d possibly end up going to, kind of watching film of all teams, watching film of some teams in the division, just kind of see how do the Texans play the Titans or how did the Colts play the Titans.”
Believing that situational awareness is just as important as physical preparedness, Colbert’s process showcases why he is considered to be one of the best QB coaches on the open market. Once his clients hear their names called on draft night, his business will likely continue to boom.
QB Coach compares Shedeur Sanders and Cam Ward
Having potentially spent more time with both players than anyone else up to this point in their respective careers, Colbert was asked to give his comparisons for both Ward and Sanders. Clearly doing his best to sell the skillsets of each client, the QB coach drew a pair of glowing comparisons to prominent NFL passers.
“For me, it’s more so about play style. So, for Shedeur, I really think Joe Burrow is a good comp. How he plays in the pocket, very sneaky, athletic, extremely accurate… Before Cam got to Miami, I said this, his play style reminds me a lot of Patrick Mahomes and Caleb Williams with their off-platform [throws.]”
While there are certainly some inherent biases to be found in Colbert’s assessment, seeing both players be compared to the premiere talents of the AFC is nothing short of encouraging. While they will certainly have to prove that they are worthy of those comparisons, their QB coach clearly believes that they are more than capable of doing so.
Considering that he’s one of the most celebrated coaches in the industry to date, there’s little incentive not to trust his judgment. Nevertheless, both Ward and Sanders will continue to put in the work right up until it’s time to attend the draft on April 24th.
