Enter John Dorsey's laboratory: Pondering the Cleveland Browns Quarterback Situation.
 |
| John Dorsey holds court with Cleveland media at press conference. |
Enter Tyrod Taylor. The most unappreciated fringe starting QB in the NFL. Say what you want: Tyrod takes care of the ball. Fifty-one touchdowns to eighteen interceptions in his career. He helps the running game. It's not only with his ability to add yards on his own carries, but with the threat that he might take off.
Tyrod is durable. Unlike Robert Griffin III or DeShaun Watson in their rookie seasons, Tyrod has proven that he can run an offense with designed quarterback run plays from the season's start to its finish.
So what does this mean to the future of the Browns QB room? Browns fans got one answer when General Manager John Dorsey shipped Deshone Kizer off to Green Bay. Anyone who thought the Browns might pass over taking a quarterback with the first or fourth pick in the draft got that idea slapped down by Dorsey at the line of scrimmage.
Speaking of slapping -- the Browns quarterback room as it stands today is likely to make the hand-size truthers of the NFL draft downright giddy. Tyrod with his 10" paws joins Kessler with his 10 7/8" monsters and Hogan with his 10 1/4" hams. Apparently to the Browns size does matter.
Don't fool yourself, Baker Mayfield is no Tyrod Taylor.
Baker ran a 4.8 plus 40 at the combine.
 |
| Baker's 4.84 40 yard dash. #pull that wagon, son |
That's more Peyton Manning than Russell Wilson. Baker has no future in the NFL as a quarterback who runs the football.
Tyrod ran a 4.5 in the 40-yard dash at the combine. That's running back speed.
 |
| Tyrod's effortless 4.51 40 yard dash at the combine. |
The case against Mayfield. Oklahoma spits out productive college quarterbacks year after year, but real NFL success for these guys is illusive. Don't get me wrong, Baker was an exceptional college quarterback, He ranks second in the list of the most efficient college quarterbacks in history.
| 1 | Sam Bradford* | 175.62 | 2007 | 2009 | Oklahoma |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | Baker Mayfield* | 175.37 | 2013 | 2017 | Oklahoma |
| 3 | Marcus Mariota* | 171.75 | 2012 | 2014 | Oregon |
| 4 | Tim Tebow* | 170.79 | 2006 | 2009 | Florida |
| 5 | Kellen Moore* | 168.98 | 2008 | 2011 | Boise State |
| 6 | Ryan Dinwiddie* | 168.89 | 2000 | 2003 | Boise State |
| 7 | Colt Brennan* | 167.65 | 2005 | 2007 | Hawaii |
| 8 | Bryce Petty* | 166.03 | 2011 | 2014 | Baylor |
| 9 | Johnny Manziel* | 164.05 | 2012 | 2013 | Texas A&M |
| 10 | Danny Wuerffel | 163.56 | 1993 | 1996 | Florida |
A lot of spread, air-raid type offenses in this list. Not a lot of NFL quarterbacking success.
Not for nothing, Baker also played behind the best offensive line in college football. No matter where he goes in the NFL, Baker is not going to enjoy that level of offensive line dominance.
Yes, he tore up Ohio State early in the 2017 season in the 'shoe. He passed for over 350 yards and three touchdowns in the game. Let's not get too carried away, however. That game was a week after Richard Lagow of the Indiana Hoosiers threw for over 400 yards and three touchdowns against the Buckeyes behind a far inferior offensive line. The Buckeyes gave up big passing performances any time their front four did not generate pressure. Nathan Stanley had 5 passing touchdowns against the Buckeyes in Iowa's mid-season 55-24 win in Iowa City.
Baker had a great first half in the college playoffs against Georgia in the Rose Bowl, but struggled later in the game when the Bulldogs finally found a way to put pressure on him. In between Ohio State and Georgia, Baker racked up big numbers against the slap ass defenses of the Big 12 conference -- something that has been possible for quarterbacks of the the Brandon Weeden and Brice Petty variety in recent history. This year was no exception for Big 12 quarterbacks. Five quarterbacks put up gaudy numbers in the conference.
Big 12 passing leaders - 2017:
RK
|
PLAYER
|
TEAM
|
|||||||
1
|
OKST
|
318
|
489
|
65.0
|
4904
|
37
|
9
|
170.6
|
|
2
|
OKLA
|
285
|
404
|
70.5
|
4627
|
43
|
6
|
198.9
|
|
3
|
TTU
|
328
|
493
|
66.5
|
3963
|
33
|
10
|
152.1
|
|
4
|
WVU
|
250
|
388
|
64.4
|
3490
|
34
|
12
|
162.7
|
|
5
|
TCU
|
269
|
400
|
67.3
|
3152
|
23
|
8
|
148.4
|
There are four successful NFL quarterbacks who are in the six foot range or under. Tyrod and Russell Wilson, who are far more athletic than Baker and Drew Brees and Case Keenum, who are comparable to Mayfield in their degree of athleticism.
The highest draft pick of the bunch was Brees in the second round. The bottom line for the San Diego Chargers is that Brees did not work out for them as a draft pick. Inconsistent play at the beginning of Brees' NFL career led the Chargers to draft Phillip Rivers with a high draft pick in 2004 before Brees caught on to the NFL
Drew Brees stats:
Year
|
Team
|
CMP%
|
YDS
|
TD
|
INT
|
Rating
|
|---|
Six feet tall quarterbacks in the NFL are seldom given more than three years to develop. With the exception of Tim Couch, no quarterback in Cleveland has been given three years.
Keenum (who went undrafted) and Taylor (who was drafted in the sixth round) both took a while to experience NFL success.
Keenum was every bit as prolific a passer as Mayfield at Houston in his Senior season:
| Keenum Senior Season Passing | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | School | Conf | Class | Pos | G | Cmp | Att | Pct | Yds | Y/A | AY/A | TD | Int | Rate |
| *2011 | Houston | CUSA | SR | QB | 14 | 428 | 603 | 71.0 | 5631 | 9.3 | 10.6 | 48 | 5 | 174.0 |
| Mayfield Senior Season Passing | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | School | Conf | Class | Pos | G | Cmp | Att | Pct | Yds | Y/A | AY/A | TD | Int | Rate |
| *2017 | Oklahoma | Big 12 | SR | QB | 14 | 285 | 404 | 70.5 | 4627 | 11.5 | 12.9 | 43 | 6 | 198.9 |
Surprisingly, Keenum even tested as a better athlete than Baker at the combine, yet went undrafted.
If Baker is the Browns' pick, why not just throw franchise-level money at Keenum? He's already gone through the development pain and likely represents the player you can expect Baker to become in two to three years.
Wilson is the outlier -- a short QB who paid immediate dividends to the team that drafted him.
Wilson, however has elite athleticism that allowed him to make plays with his feet while he adjusted to the NFL. Baker lacks that same athleticism.
Wilson also has the huge hands that NFL general managers prize, while Baker has a slightly sub-average hand size. Both Dorsey and Hue are on record of saying hand size is an important consideration for an NFL quarterback who plays in the AFC North.
Reading the tea leaves, the trade for Tyrod appears to make it no more likely that the Browns will draft Baker with the first or fourth pick in this year's draft.
 |
| Lamar Jackson shows off his elite athleticism against Florida State |
Tyrod's proven track record as a competent NFL starting quarterback gives the Browns the luxury of taking a raw prospect with tremendous upside and using his rookie season to develop him. Sending Kizer packing might say that Todd Haley and Hue Jackson are ready to spend all of their efforts concentrating on developing one project quarterback instead of two.
Jackson is on nobody's radar as a top 5 pick in the draft. In fact, some don't rate him as a top 5 quarterback in the draft.
That said, the NFL witnessed what the Texans did with DeShaun Watson last season. That's not the first time that an offense blending some aspects of college schemes with an NFL playbook has worked. The Shanahans had RGIII ready to be crowned the next great thing with the Redskins before his knee gave out.
Jackson is a once-in-a-generation talent if you are talking about running quarterbacks and has the same whip of an arm that Micheal Vick possessed. Jackson is not a little guy. He's above the 6'2" quarterback threshold used by many NFL scouting departments. He would not be the smallest quarterback in t he AFC North. Jackson even has some room to fill out as he matures.
Imagine the stress on a defense that is forced to contend with Jackson handing the ball off to Saquon Barkley, or keeping it and slipping out the back side, or hitting Jarvis Landry on a quick slant to the area of a frozen linebacker, or chucking it up to a streaking Josh Gordon in man coverage. When is the last time the Browns put that much freak-level talent on the field at one time? Never sounds about right.
Patrick Mahomes was a similarly raw quarterbacking talent. He was the polarizing prospect in last year's NFL draft. That didn't stop Dorsey from trading up to get him.
Jackson is a "go big or go home" draft prospect. Dorsey would put himself out at the end of a very long limb if Jackson is his pick. It will not be popular in Cleveland. Dorsey has proven, however that he has the set of "Mahomes" necessary to make bold moves.
Could a cowboy be riding in on a dark horse to save the Browns? From the jump, lots of NFL analysts have speculated that Josh Allen is Dorsey's guy. The local Cleveland media hates the idea -- but when has that group ever been right about anything? Anyone remember being in "good hands" with Romeo and Phil Savage or the year-long media party when the Browns landed their "competent credible leader" in Mike Holmgren? I'm still waiting for my playoff tickets, Mike.
Like with Lamar Jackson, the acquisition of Tyrod gives the Browns their best chance to keep Allen off the field for a year while they concentrate on developing him.
Jackson is on nobody's radar as a top 5 pick in the draft. In fact, some don't rate him as a top 5 quarterback in the draft.
That said, the NFL witnessed what the Texans did with DeShaun Watson last season. That's not the first time that an offense blending some aspects of college schemes with an NFL playbook has worked. The Shanahans had RGIII ready to be crowned the next great thing with the Redskins before his knee gave out.
Jackson is a once-in-a-generation talent if you are talking about running quarterbacks and has the same whip of an arm that Micheal Vick possessed. Jackson is not a little guy. He's above the 6'2" quarterback threshold used by many NFL scouting departments. He would not be the smallest quarterback in t he AFC North. Jackson even has some room to fill out as he matures.
Imagine the stress on a defense that is forced to contend with Jackson handing the ball off to Saquon Barkley, or keeping it and slipping out the back side, or hitting Jarvis Landry on a quick slant to the area of a frozen linebacker, or chucking it up to a streaking Josh Gordon in man coverage. When is the last time the Browns put that much freak-level talent on the field at one time? Never sounds about right.
Patrick Mahomes was a similarly raw quarterbacking talent. He was the polarizing prospect in last year's NFL draft. That didn't stop Dorsey from trading up to get him.
Jackson is a "go big or go home" draft prospect. Dorsey would put himself out at the end of a very long limb if Jackson is his pick. It will not be popular in Cleveland. Dorsey has proven, however that he has the set of "Mahomes" necessary to make bold moves.
 |
| Allen throwing on the run -- a staple of his game. |
Could a cowboy be riding in on a dark horse to save the Browns? From the jump, lots of NFL analysts have speculated that Josh Allen is Dorsey's guy. The local Cleveland media hates the idea -- but when has that group ever been right about anything? Anyone remember being in "good hands" with Romeo and Phil Savage or the year-long media party when the Browns landed their "competent credible leader" in Mike Holmgren? I'm still waiting for my playoff tickets, Mike.
Like with Lamar Jackson, the acquisition of Tyrod gives the Browns their best chance to keep Allen off the field for a year while they concentrate on developing him.
But what about the 56% completion rate in college, you ask? Tyrod Taylor had a similar 57% completion percentage when at Virginia Tech.
Tyrod has improved to boast a respectable 63% completion percentage in the NFL.
Tyrod Taylor stats:
Josh Allen stood behind a terrible offensive line at Wyoming, lacked play-making skilled players to generate easy throws for him and ran a pro-style offense. He wasn't throwing a lot of "smoke" routes or "bubble screens" or easy pitch and catch completions that are staples of spread college offenses. Nearly every week he stepped on the field he did so with teammates inferior in skill level to that of his opponent.
Josh Allen ran the same pro-style offense at Wyoming that Carson Wentz ran at North Dakota State. They had a common coach, Craig Bohl and there are similarities in their size, arm strength and athleticism.
Many will be quick to point out that Wentz completed a higher percentage of his passes and that he won in college. Sure he did. North Dakota State is the perennial powerhouse of the FCS division in college football. That was true before Wentz's days with the Bison and continues to be true after his departure to the NFL.
Without Wentz, the Bison beat Power 5 conference member Iowa this year -- the same team that routed Ohio State 55-24. Interestingly, North Dakota State did not lose a single game that Wentz missed because of injury in his college career. Wentz's backup was undefeated in 2016 and quarterbacked the Bison to a victory in the playoffs against the same team that defeated Carson earlier in the season.
The Wyoming Cowboys were 3-9 in 2014 and 2-10 in 2015. Allen joined the team as a junior college transfer in 2016 and lifted the Cowboys to a 8-6 record that year and a 8-5 record in 2017.
From his draft position, you would assume that Wentz was a prolific passer in college on par with the likes of small-school phenoms like Joe Flacco or Steve "Air" McNair. Not so fast. Wentz had only one three hundred yard passing game in his college career, and it came in his Senior season. Wentz, in fact, had more sub-200 yard passing games than 200-yard-plus passing games in his college career.
The point isn't that Wentz wasn't worthy of his draft position -- that would obviously be wrong. The point is that Wentz was a projection, just like Allen is a projection. The Eagles got it right and put him in a great situation with the right coach. It is revisionist history to say he was some slam dunk prospect, however.
Allen has John Elway - Jeff George level arm talent and plays like Elway. He has a Ben Rothlisberger - Cam Newton frame. Allen ran for over 500 yards as a Sophomore and generally has stayed on the field. He's also the only quarterback in this draft with 10" hands.
Allen is a project of the feast or famine variety. He's a grand slam or a three pitch strike out. Dorsey fell for the big-armed, highest-upside quarterback in the draft last year. Don't fool yourself into thinking it can't happen again.
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Back it up. In one day's time, the Browns added a quarterback in Taylor and traded one away in Kizer. Assuming that they aren't considering adding another veteran quarterback or double-dipping in the draft (a possibility), that leaves Cody Kessler and Kevin Hogan battling it out with some training camp arms for the team's third quarterback.
That guy might be called upon as QB2 if Tyrod goes down early in the season -- especially if Dorsey swings for the fences with Allen or Jackson.
While with the Kansas City Chiefs, John Dorsey selected Hogan in the fifth round of the 2016 draft. It was Andy Reid that said "no thanks."
Hogan is a sneaky-good athlete. Remember his 100 yard rushing game against the Bengals? He is a really poor man's Tyrod Taylor: holes in the underwear poor. You wouldn't know it from his lone start last year when Hogan imploded on the field, but he was thought of from his days at Stanford as a smart, game-manager type who takes care of the ball.
This race was over before it started. Bye-bye Cody Kessler. Always remember that you had Hue's trust -- until you didn't.
About the men on the outside looking in. The trades involving Taylor and Kizer will have a significant effect on the futures of two men: A.J. McCarron, who will now look elsewhere for his chance to be an NFL starter and Cody Kessler, who is likely a long shot to be on an NFL active roster in 2018. Surprisingly, Cody Kessler's rookie season statistics are very similar to those for A.J. McCarron's career. In 2016, as a rookie, Cody had a 65.6% completion percentage and 6 touchdowns against 2 interceptions. His passer rating was a very respectable 92.3.
Cody Kessler stats:
True, McCarron has his six touchdowns in fewer games and has a higher average yards per pass attempt than Kessler, but come on. The bulk of McCarron's yards came in 2015 when Andy Dalton was a legitimate MVP candidate before he went down with the injury, giving A.J. his shot. McCarron was throwing to A.J. Green, Marvin Jones, Jr. and Mohammed Sanu. He had a healthy Tyler Eifert, a backfield of Jeremy Hill and Giovanni Bernard and an excellent offensive line. Kessler had Terrelle Pryor and a whole lot of nothing to work with in his rookie season.
Sashi Brown: The man who saved football in Cleveland.
Credit Sashi Brown for this: last year's botched trade that would have netted McCarron for a handful of meaningless games also would have cost the Browns more than the ammunition it took for Dorsey to swing the trades that landed both Tyrod Taylor and Jarvis Landry. Whether it was sabotage or incompetence, the Browns were saved from a larger stupidity by Sahsi's inaction.
The big test for Dorsey begins now. Can he capitalize on the unprecedented capital he has inherited to pick the right quarterback and bring the Browns franchise back to respectability?
John Dorsey's big moves on March 9, 2018 demonstrate one thing: he isn't listening to Hue when he says "trust me." Dorsey is going to do this his way and Hue Jackson will not be around to ruin a third rookie quarterback if he can't prove that he can win with Tyrod Taylor next season. No more escape acts. No more scapegoats. It really is on Hue's shoulders once training camp begins.
It is far from certain whether the Dorsey is making the right moves for the Browns' future. There certainly is room to argue that the moves were imprudent: a high third-round pick for a quarterback that the Bills are willing to move away from with no clear backup plan; giving up multiple picks for the privilege to overpay an NFL slot receiver, where multiple slot receivers are available in free agency; and trading away a very young quarterback with the physical makeup as good as any quarterback in this draft class (save Allen) who showed resilience and significant signs of improvement at the end of last season. The one thing you cannot question, however, is Dorsey's conviction.
The Browns bold moves provide fodder in the silly season for the most hopeful Browns fan to argue their team is "winning" the offseason. Others surely will label the Browns as losers pointing to the same moves. Gaining the honors of being named the winner of the offseason has proven to be meaningless more often than it has not in NFL history. At this point, however, Browns will take a win where they can find one -- even if they have to manufacture it.
| Passing | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | School | Conf | Class | Pos | G | Cmp | Att | Pct | Yds | Y/A | AY/A | TD | Int | Rate |
| *2007 | Virginia Tech | ACC | FR | QB | 11 | 72 | 134 | 53.7 | 927 | 6.9 | 6.7 | 5 | 3 | 119.7 |
| *2008 | Virginia Tech | ACC | SO | QB | 12 | 99 | 173 | 57.2 | 1036 | 6.0 | 4.4 | 2 | 7 | 103.3 |
| *2009 | Virginia Tech | ACC | JR | QB | 13 | 136 | 243 | 56.0 | 2311 | 9.5 | 9.7 | 13 | 5 | 149.4 |
| *2010 | Virginia Tech | ACC | SR | QB | 14 | 188 | 315 | 59.7 | 2743 | 8.7 | 9.5 | 24 | 5 | 154.8 |
| Career | Virginia Tech | 495 | 865 | 57.2 | 7017 | 8.1 | 8.1 | 44 | 20 | 137.5 | ||||
Tyrod Taylor stats:
Year
|
Team
|
CMP%
|
YDS
|
TD
|
INT
|
Rating
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2017
|  |
62.6
|
2,799
|
14
|
4
|
89.2
|
2016
| |
61.7
|
3,023
|
17
|
6
|
89.7
|
Career
|
62.4
|
9,056
|
51
|
18
|
91.2
| |
Drew Brees also had a completion percentage under 60% for his first three years in the NFL and is in the 70% range now. He was right at 60% as a college quarterback.
How did that happen? Completion percentage can be skewed by the system a college team runs, the level of competition it plays, whether the offensive line gives a quarterback time, and a plethora of other considerations. | Passing | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | School | Conf | Class | Pos | G | Cmp | Att | Pct | Yds | Y/A | AY/A | TD | Int | Rate |
| *1999 | Purdue | Big Ten | QB | 12 | 337 | 554 | 60.8 | 3909 | 7.1 | 7.0 | 25 | 12 | 130.7 | |
| *2000 | Purdue | Big Ten | SR | QB | 12 | 309 | 512 | 60.4 | 3668 | 7.2 | 7.1 | 26 | 12 | 132.6 |
Josh Allen stood behind a terrible offensive line at Wyoming, lacked play-making skilled players to generate easy throws for him and ran a pro-style offense. He wasn't throwing a lot of "smoke" routes or "bubble screens" or easy pitch and catch completions that are staples of spread college offenses. Nearly every week he stepped on the field he did so with teammates inferior in skill level to that of his opponent.
Josh Allen ran the same pro-style offense at Wyoming that Carson Wentz ran at North Dakota State. They had a common coach, Craig Bohl and there are similarities in their size, arm strength and athleticism.
Many will be quick to point out that Wentz completed a higher percentage of his passes and that he won in college. Sure he did. North Dakota State is the perennial powerhouse of the FCS division in college football. That was true before Wentz's days with the Bison and continues to be true after his departure to the NFL.
Without Wentz, the Bison beat Power 5 conference member Iowa this year -- the same team that routed Ohio State 55-24. Interestingly, North Dakota State did not lose a single game that Wentz missed because of injury in his college career. Wentz's backup was undefeated in 2016 and quarterbacked the Bison to a victory in the playoffs against the same team that defeated Carson earlier in the season.
The Wyoming Cowboys were 3-9 in 2014 and 2-10 in 2015. Allen joined the team as a junior college transfer in 2016 and lifted the Cowboys to a 8-6 record that year and a 8-5 record in 2017.
From his draft position, you would assume that Wentz was a prolific passer in college on par with the likes of small-school phenoms like Joe Flacco or Steve "Air" McNair. Not so fast. Wentz had only one three hundred yard passing game in his college career, and it came in his Senior season. Wentz, in fact, had more sub-200 yard passing games than 200-yard-plus passing games in his college career.
The point isn't that Wentz wasn't worthy of his draft position -- that would obviously be wrong. The point is that Wentz was a projection, just like Allen is a projection. The Eagles got it right and put him in a great situation with the right coach. It is revisionist history to say he was some slam dunk prospect, however.
Allen has John Elway - Jeff George level arm talent and plays like Elway. He has a Ben Rothlisberger - Cam Newton frame. Allen ran for over 500 yards as a Sophomore and generally has stayed on the field. He's also the only quarterback in this draft with 10" hands.
Allen is a project of the feast or famine variety. He's a grand slam or a three pitch strike out. Dorsey fell for the big-armed, highest-upside quarterback in the draft last year. Don't fool yourself into thinking it can't happen again.
That guy might be called upon as QB2 if Tyrod goes down early in the season -- especially if Dorsey swings for the fences with Allen or Jackson.
While with the Kansas City Chiefs, John Dorsey selected Hogan in the fifth round of the 2016 draft. It was Andy Reid that said "no thanks."
Hogan is a sneaky-good athlete. Remember his 100 yard rushing game against the Bengals? He is a really poor man's Tyrod Taylor: holes in the underwear poor. You wouldn't know it from his lone start last year when Hogan imploded on the field, but he was thought of from his days at Stanford as a smart, game-manager type who takes care of the ball.
This race was over before it started. Bye-bye Cody Kessler. Always remember that you had Hue's trust -- until you didn't.
About the men on the outside looking in. The trades involving Taylor and Kizer will have a significant effect on the futures of two men: A.J. McCarron, who will now look elsewhere for his chance to be an NFL starter and Cody Kessler, who is likely a long shot to be on an NFL active roster in 2018. Surprisingly, Cody Kessler's rookie season statistics are very similar to those for A.J. McCarron's career. In 2016, as a rookie, Cody had a 65.6% completion percentage and 6 touchdowns against 2 interceptions. His passer rating was a very respectable 92.3.
Cody Kessler stats:
Year
|
Team
|
CMP%
|
YDS
|
TD
|
INT
|
Rating
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2016
|  |
65.6
|
1,380
|
6
|
2
|
92.3
|
For his career, A.J. McCarron has a similar stat line.
AJ McCarron stats:
Year
|
Team
|
CMP%
|
YDS
|
TD
|
INT
|
Rating
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2017
|  |
50.0
|
66
|
0
|
0
|
63.4
|
2016
| |
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
Career
|
64.7
|
920
|
6
|
2
|
93.6
| |
True, McCarron has his six touchdowns in fewer games and has a higher average yards per pass attempt than Kessler, but come on. The bulk of McCarron's yards came in 2015 when Andy Dalton was a legitimate MVP candidate before he went down with the injury, giving A.J. his shot. McCarron was throwing to A.J. Green, Marvin Jones, Jr. and Mohammed Sanu. He had a healthy Tyler Eifert, a backfield of Jeremy Hill and Giovanni Bernard and an excellent offensive line. Kessler had Terrelle Pryor and a whole lot of nothing to work with in his rookie season.
Credit Sashi Brown for this: last year's botched trade that would have netted McCarron for a handful of meaningless games also would have cost the Browns more than the ammunition it took for Dorsey to swing the trades that landed both Tyrod Taylor and Jarvis Landry. Whether it was sabotage or incompetence, the Browns were saved from a larger stupidity by Sahsi's inaction.
The big test for Dorsey begins now. Can he capitalize on the unprecedented capital he has inherited to pick the right quarterback and bring the Browns franchise back to respectability?
John Dorsey's big moves on March 9, 2018 demonstrate one thing: he isn't listening to Hue when he says "trust me." Dorsey is going to do this his way and Hue Jackson will not be around to ruin a third rookie quarterback if he can't prove that he can win with Tyrod Taylor next season. No more escape acts. No more scapegoats. It really is on Hue's shoulders once training camp begins.
It is far from certain whether the Dorsey is making the right moves for the Browns' future. There certainly is room to argue that the moves were imprudent: a high third-round pick for a quarterback that the Bills are willing to move away from with no clear backup plan; giving up multiple picks for the privilege to overpay an NFL slot receiver, where multiple slot receivers are available in free agency; and trading away a very young quarterback with the physical makeup as good as any quarterback in this draft class (save Allen) who showed resilience and significant signs of improvement at the end of last season. The one thing you cannot question, however, is Dorsey's conviction.
The Browns bold moves provide fodder in the silly season for the most hopeful Browns fan to argue their team is "winning" the offseason. Others surely will label the Browns as losers pointing to the same moves. Gaining the honors of being named the winner of the offseason has proven to be meaningless more often than it has not in NFL history. At this point, however, Browns will take a win where they can find one -- even if they have to manufacture it.
Enter John Dorsey's laboratory: Pondering the Cleveland Browns Quarterback Situation.
Reviewed by AT Dawgger
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10:19 PM
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Reviewed by AT Dawgger
on
10:19 PM
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