ALLEN PARK, Mich. -- More than any quarterback in the league, more than any quarterback in the history of the NFL, Matthew Stafford has an understanding of what one of the quarterbacks taken in the first round of the NFL draft next Thursday will go through.

Stafford was the No. 1 overall pick in 2009 out of Georgia, taken by the Detroit Lions -- at the time the only team that went 0-16 in league history. Stafford was expected to be the future of the franchise, the savior for a team that had struggled at the quarterback spot for so long.

In many ways, what the Lions were then is what the Cleveland Browns are now. The Browns went 0-16 last season. The team’s quarterback woes are well-known. And the franchise is expected to take a quarterback early in next week’s draft, likely at either No. 1 overall or No. 4 overall.

And either Josh Allen, Baker Mayfield, Sam Darnold, Josh Rosen or Lamar Jackson will be put in the same position Stafford was once in: a team's hope for the future and the likely face of the present.

It took Stafford a while to get there. Injuries hampered him the first two seasons before a breakout year in 2011, when he threw for 5,038 yards and led the Lions to a wild-card berth. Eventually, he became a quarterback that for a brief time was the highest-paid in the game and is now at the start of a five-year, $135 million deal.

But nine years ago, he was where the five quarterbacks looking to be drafted next week are now. And he has some simple advice for them.

“I think that’s all you can do is be yourself,” Stafford said. “Just go in there, work hard, show those guys in that locker room what you’re about and whatever it is that you’re about. It'll come out and they’ll either accept you or they won’t.

“And then you go play.”

Stafford said he’s interested to see what happens during the draft, what trades happen and which quarterback ends up in which city. Those things interest him. He said he doesn’t necessarily care who goes where, but he hopes “those guys have the best career they can have.”

He said he hasn’t gotten to know any of those quarterbacks personally, but he did offer one more piece of advice.

“It’s tough. Every experience is different,” Stafford said. “Some of those guys are going to go to teams all across the board in different positions as a team, as an organization, as a roster, all that. I think the biggest thing you can do is go be yourself. Go be yourself, work hard and let the chips fall where they may.

“I think if those guys do that, they’ll be successful. All those guys are super talented. You watch them play in college football and they do a great job for their teams. Just go out there and have fun doing it and let it fly.”