Red Right 88

Dorsey’s QB criteria points to one clear choice on draft night

The 2018 NFL Draft will open on Thursday night at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.

The Cleveland Browns will be on the clock with the first selection of the draft and, barring an unforeseen mental lapse by general manager John Dorsey, the club will be selecting the player they hope will solve the quarterback crisis that has plagued the franchise for 25 years.

There are five legitimate candidates for the pick – Oklahoma’s Baker Mayfield, USC’s Sam Darnold, UCLA’s Josh Rosen, Wyoming’s Josh Allen and Louisville’s Lamar Jackson – and it seems likely that, just two days before the draft, Dorsey knows who the pick will be.

Dorsey is keeping a tight lid on the decision, however, and will reportedly wait until Wednesday night to tell owner Jimmy Haslam and head coach Hue Jackson which player will be selected.

Once that happens, word is sure to leak out, although Browns fans will not know for certain until NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell makes the announcement sometime around 8:20 on draft night.

Without going into specifics, Dorsey has dropped a few clues as to what he is looking for in a quarterback. Hand size is on the list, naturally, but there are a few other measurable traits he wants to see, according to cleveland.com:

“The only thing I really care about is do guys win? Does he have accuracy? Does he have a strong arm? Can he throw the ball in the red zone in tight windows? Can he drive the ball? At the end of the game, does he win? That’s what I look for.”

Now that we know that, let’s see if we can decipher who the pick will be by ranking each quarterback on a rubric scale of 1 to 5 (with 1 being the lowest and 5 being the highest) for each of Dorsey’s preferred categories.

Do They Win?

Baker Mayfield: .850 winning percentage – 5 points

Sam Darnold: .778 winning percentage – 4 points

Josh Allen: .640 winning percentage – 3 points

Lamar Jackson: .632 winning percentage – 2 points

Josh Rosen: .567 winning percentage – 1 point

Are They Accurate?

Mayfield: 68.5 percent completion rate – 5 points

Darnold: 64.9 percent completion rate – 4 points

Rosen: 60.9 percent completion rate – 3 points

Jackson: 57 percent completion rate – 2 points

Allen: 56.2 percent completion rate – 1 point

Hand Size

Allen: 10.125 inches – 5 points

Rosen: 9.875 inches – 4 points

Jackson: 9.5 inches – 3 points

Darnold: 9.375 inches – 2 points

Mayfield: 9.25 inches – 1 point

Red Zone Ranking

Mayfield: 116.3 quarterback rating – 5 points

Darnold: 102 quarterback rating – 4 points

Allen: 101.8 quarterback rating – 3 points

Jackson: 88.8 quarterback rating – 2 points

Rosen: 70.3 quarterback rating – 1 point

Can They Drive the Ball?

The following numbers were recorded by Ourlads at the 2018 NFL Scouting Combine:

Allen: ball velocity of 62 – 5 points

Mayfield: ball velocity of 59.5 – 4 points

Rosen: ball velocity of 58 – 3 points

Jackson: ball velocity of 49 – 2 points

Darnold: N/A – 1 point

Total Points

Mayfield: 20

Allen: 17

Darnold: 15

Rosen: 12

Jackson: 11

So it looks like it is time to get ready for the Baker Mayfield era Browns fans.

And remember: if he is the pick, it must be the correct one since it is being made by a lifelong “football guy” in John Dorsey.

(Photo via The Sporting News)