Berea, OH (92.3 The Fan) – John Dorsey pushed all the chips to the middle of the table Thursday night.
It was a bold move.
A risky one too.
The fate of the future of the Cleveland Browns – a franchise that hasn’t found a quarterback even by sheer accident in nearly 3 decades – now rests with the success or failure of Baker Mayfield.
They paid a premium to do it – the first pick in the NFL Draft – and now Mayfield is officially penciled in as QB 30 behind No. 29 Tyrod Taylor.
Dorsey had his pick of the litter Thursday night and he went with Mayfield, a selection that will define his tenure as general manager in Cleveland.
With USC’s Sam Darnold, UCLA’s Josh Rosen and Wyoming’s Josh Allen as alternative options, Dorsey went with the quarterback with the best win percentage, highest completion percentage, most touchdowns and tied for the fewest interceptions over the last 3 seasons among them.
There's not much to argue there.
He also picked the smallest quarterback – 6-0 and 5/8, 215–pounds – to play in the rough AFC North under head coach Hue Jackson and offensive coordinator Todd Haley, who prefer their quarterbacks to be big. But Jackson, like he did with Cody Kessler and DeShone Kizer the previous 2 drafts, says that he signed off on the pick of Mayfield.
You can be the judge and jury as to just how true anyone thinks that actually is. No one has sold harder on behalf of the organization the last 2 years better than Jackson has with it blowing up in his face spectacularly in the form of 1-31.
Even Dorsey concedes that Mayfield is an outlier, but he also believes the Oklahoma QB is the exception to the rule at the NFL's most critical position.
He better be.
Every quarterback in this year's draft had gaping holes poked in their games by talent evaluators and the media over the last 4 months. Mayfield was too short and immature, Allen couldn't hit the broad side of a barn, Rosen was brittle, soft and a spoiled rich kid and Darnold rivaled last year’s Browns QB experiment – Kizer – in turnovers.
Have mercy.
To Dorsey’s credit, he stuck to his guns, trusted his gut and took the 2 players he wanted in Mayfield and Ohio State cornerback Denzel Ward at 4 in round 1.
Taking any of the 3 other quarterbacks first and NC State defensive end Bradley Chubb, who was still on the board when the Browns went back on the clock, would’ve been a layup.
Dorsey clearly doesn’t do easy.
But neither does Mayfield, and maybe that’s why this has the potential to be a match made in heaven.
Mayfield walked on to not 1, but 2 major Division 1 college football programs – Texas Tech and Oklahoma. He earned a starting job at both. He won the Maxwell Award, the Davey O'Brien Award, Manning Award, Earl Campbell Tyler Rose Award, Walter Camp Player of the Year Award, the AP Player of the Year Award, Sporting News Player of the Year Award and the Heisman Trophy too.
The unanimous All-American used that chip on his shoulder and earned it in college. He played the sport at the highest level imaginable.
Now he’s a No. 1 pick in the NFL Draft and now no longer an underdog. And at some point, he'll be the starting quarterback for the NFL's thirstiest and worst team, the Browns and expected to win, and win big.
Mayfield now carries the weight of a long-suffering franchise and fanbase on his shoulders. For 28 others, including 10 previous draft picks – 5 of them first-rounders, the burden has just been too much to bear.
It could also be yet another Browns draft day disaster of epic proportions.
For every question about Mayfield's deficiencies – height, hand size, 2017 arrest – Dorsey was prepared with an answer to rebut them all.
Mayfield very well may be the long lost savior the Browns have been looking for, and give Dorsey credit for going against the grain, but Mayfield better break the mold.
Dorsey better hope that Darnold isn’t a better Jet, Allen isn’t a better Bill or Rosen isn’t a better Cardinal than Mayfield is a Brown because if Mayfield has the same shelf life as the previous 4 quarterbacks drafted by Cleveland, the next Browns general manager will have to go find QB 31 in 2020.
Dorsey has gambled and bet that won't be necessary.
It remains to be seen if he showed the winning hand Thursday night by picking Mayfield. But Dorsey is counting on Mayfield to show everyone he did.
It's now Baker, or bust.
For Dorsey and the Browns.
