Sam Darnold insists he’s not afraid of being drafted by the Browns

A rumor surfaced earlier this month that claimed USC quarterback Sam Darnold would stay in school another year if he faced the threat of being drafted by the Browns. On Monday, Darnold denied those rumors.

After USC’s practice, Darnold said via ESPN, “I didn’t say anything about the Browns. I’ve never said anything bad about [an NFL] team. They know I would never say anything.”

ESPN’s Rich Cimini reported as recently as Saturday that Darnold was leaning towards staying in school.

Darnold is expected to be selected high in a quarterback-heavy 2018 NFL draft, if he were to enter. SB Nation’s Dan Kadar’s latest mock draft is based off of the idea of Darnold staying in school.

However, he has Lamar Jackson going third-overall to the Giants, where he says that, if available, Darnold would be the selection:

Without Darnold, the Giants simply move down to the next quarterback up. Jackson had statistically a better season than his Heisman Trophy sophomore year. As a prospect, he’s gotten much better at making plays in the pocket.

Whether Jackson or Darnold, a quarterback selection for the Giants wouldn’t be surprising, considering they benched Eli Manning yesterday.

Darnold has passed for 3,462 yards, 24 touchdowns, and 12 interceptions this season in the Trojan’s 10-2 season.

Heading into the season, Darnold was the favorite to win the Heisman Trophy. While his season hasn’t been as prolific as some predicted, he’s still shown flashes to draw intrigue from NFL teams.

In his redshirt freshman season at USC, he passed for 3,086 yards with 31 touchdowns and just nine interceptions, while also completing 67.2 percent of his passes — that’s 3.9 percent more than this season.

Darnold staying in school wouldn’t be a gigantic surprise with other talented quarterbacks in the class like Josh Rosen, Lamar Jackson, Baker Mayfield, and Josh Allen. He didn’t take the leap many expected him to take this season, and if waiting another year is going to put him in a better position, don’t be surprised if the redshirt sophomore makes that choice.

But he made one thing clear on Monday — he’s not afraid of potentially being the next Cleveland Browns quarterback.