Cleveland, OH (92.3 The Fan) – The Cleveland Browns do not want to play Baker Mayfield in 2018 if they don’t have to.
Even if he is the first pick in the draft.
Browns head coach Hue Jackson has already named Tyrod Taylor, acquired officially March 14 in a trade with Buffalo, as the starting quarterback this season and he isn’t backing down following the selection of Mayfield Thursday night.
"It would have to be something that blows me away and blows the organization away because we have a plan in place,” Jackson said in an interview with Bull and Fox on 92.3 The Fan Monday afternoon. “I know plans do change, but I would like to really, really make sure that that is the case as opposed to creating the narrative that that is the case.
“Let’s let it happen that way, and if it does that, organically happen, and if it doesn’t I think we’re going to be in a great spot moving forward.”
There’s no question that the class will be defined by Mayfield, but Jackson is confident their process for making the selection – led by general manager John Dorsey, assistant GM Eliot Wolf and vice president of player personnel Alonzo Highsmith – was sound.
“We did a really good job of vetting all of these guys,” Jackson said. “We spent a lot of hours with these quarterbacks and put them through the ropes as you would say to find out more about them. We dug into everything and when it was all said and done I thought Baker was the best fit for us and I thought he was the best quarterback in the class this year."
While all eyes will be on Mayfield, Tyrod Taylor has been named the starter meaning Jackson and the Browns will resist bowing to any pressure to play the top pick.
“I don’t look at it that way. This is going to be the future of our franchise,” Jackson said. “I'm not gonna stick him out there too soon. Now, if some reason the learning curve is really fast and he’s doing some great things, we’ll still temper it and let it take its course the way it needs to go. But I think Tyrod Taylor is going to be our quarterback, I've committed to that.
"Obviously, Baker’s gonna compete and were that all fits in the rotation when training camp is here and done we’ll kinda go from there.”
