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Browns select quarterback Baker Mayfield with the No. 1 pick

The Cleveland Browns opened the 2018 NFL Draft by selecting quarterback Baker Mayfield out of Oklahoma.

Mayfield becomes the eighth quarterback the team has selected in the first round of the regular draft in franchise history, but the first quarterback selected with the top pick since Tim Couch in 1999.

It is a bold move by general manager John Dorsey in his first draft with the team, as he bypassed USC’s Sam Darnold, UCLA’s Josh Rosen, Louisville’s Lamar Jackson and Wyoming’s Josh Allen for Mayfield. The Browns have been searching for a franchise quarterback since 1993 and, while talented, Mayfield was not viewed as the safest selection prior to the draft.  Read more…

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.

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Dorsey trying to buck Browns quarterback history

The Cleveland Browns will be the talk of the NFL on Thursday night when the first round of the 2018 NFL Draft opens at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.

The Browns hold the No. 1 overall selection in the first round (as well as pick No. 4) and general manager John Dorsey is almost a lock to select a quarterback with the opening pick of the night.

The correct pick would be Oklahoma’s Baker Mayfield, who possess the on-field production and moxie that teams look for in a franchise quarterback. If the Browns are scared off by Mayfield not being the “ideal” height for an NFL quarterback, Dorsey may turn to the safe pick, presumably USC’s Sam Darnold, who presumably has franchise quarterback written all over him, just as long as you ignore all the turnovers.

There have even been rumors that Dorsey will selection Wyoming’s Josh Allen, despite every piece of historical evidence pointing to Allen being the worst pick the Browns could make.

Whoever it is, when the Browns turn in the card and the selection is made, that player will become the eighth quarterback the team has selected in the first round of the regular draft in franchise history.

As the debate rages over which player the Browns should select – and make no mistake, that debate will not cool down anytime soon – let’s take a look back at the first-round quarterbacks the Browns believed to be the answer over the years.

(These summaries are all taken from our original series on the quarterbacks, which first appeared in 2014).

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