The Browns listened to offers for their No. 4 overall pick, but the talks for that spot did not escalate too far. Four teams contacted John Dorsey about potentially moving into that position, Peter King of SI.com reports, noting just one offered a package including a 2019 first-rounder. King estimates the Cardinals were that team. However, Dorsey said the franchise interested in moving up to No. 4 was interested in a quarterback that the Browns GM knew going to be available.
“I’m coming up for one player and one player only, and that’s Baker Mayfield.” the anonymous exec told Dorsey, who relayed this to King. “I knew all along it wasn’t going to happen.”
Mayfield visited the Cardinals before the draft, and while it’s uncertain if they were the team that offered a 2019 first-rounder, their No. 15 draft position being the lowest of the QB-needy teams would make such a proposal logical. Arizona ended up with Josh Rosen, moving up five spots without having to sacrifice a first- or second-round pick to do so.
Here’s more from Cleveland and the rest of the latest draft fallout.
- New Browns vice president of football operations Alonzo Highsmith said for months he had Sam Darnold rated ahead of Baker Mayfield in a succession that went Darnold, Mayfield, Rosen, Lamar Jackson and Josh Allen. But Mayfield’s visit changed the new Cleveland exec’s tune. “From the start of this college football season to the end of the season, I had Darnold No. 1 and Baker No. 2. On our way through everything, you couldn’t tell me Darnold wasn’t the best,” Highsmith said (via Steve Doerschuk of the Canton Repository). “Then comes the part where you meet them off the field. You watch their workouts. You watch everything. And Baker blew me away. Highly, highly intelligent. Highly competitive. And he had a trait that some of the good ones have. I call it efficacy. That includes the power to effect other people. I thought that of all the quarterbacks I watched, he stood out far and above the other guys. When he walked into a room, you knew he was there.”
- Lamar Jackson‘s pre-draft process did not go smoothly, with CBS Sports’ Joel Corry reporting teams had trouble scheduling workouts and meetings with him. The quarterback also experienced difficulties breaking down plays on teams’ whiteboards at the Combine. Corry notes Jackson’s decision to not hire an agent could have cost him some money on his rookie contract, with the Ravens being able to get him at No. 32 after a contingent in their draft room lobbied for him at 16.
- Chris Ballard said, via Stephen Holder of the Indianapolis Star, the Colts‘ decision to make Quenton Nelson this year’s No. 6 overall pick was the easiest draft decision he’d made in 19 years (Twitter link). However, if Bradley Chubb would have remained on the board, Ballard admitted (via Holder, on Twitter) it would have been a much tougher call. Had the Broncos and Bills been able to swing a deal, the Colts would have been faced with that decision. But when the Bills contacted the Colts about a trade for No. 6, Ballard appeared to intimate he was fixated on Nelson.
- Fort Hays State defensive tackle Nathan Shepherd will be stationed at defensive end in the Jets‘ 3-4 scheme, Manish Mehta of the New York Daily News notes. Despite weighing 315 pounds, Shepherd will be in line to potentially take Muhammad Wilkerson‘s spot opposite Leonard Williams come training camp.
Sounds like a lot of damage control by Browns executives in response to their fans reaction to the pick.
Damage control at this point serves no purpose. Fans still supporting the Browns have witnessed one win in the past two years so they are obviously committed for life. They aren’t going to run off to become Bengal fans just because the draft didn’t go the way they wanted.
Ever think that by going Mayfield over Darnold, the Browns thought that Darnold being there would cause the Giants to select him. The Jets would then take one of the QB Josh’s. That then would leave Barkley for the Browns at #4. This may have been the only way the Browns thought they could end up with a top QB and the top RB.
If they wanted Barkley that bad, they would have drafted him at 1. So that’s a dumb theory… Browns think Mayfield was the best QB of the bunch. His only on field concerns is his height. The other guys have worse on field issues (injury prone, turnovers and incompletion percentage).. after reading a couple articles today it sounds like many other GMs came to the same conclusion. Will be interesting to see. Can’t really judge until 32 games have been played or so… I personally would have preferred Chubb to Ward, but the browns were missing a bonafide #1 CB. If they think Ward is that guy, then that’s ok since they have Ogbah and Garrett.
If the Browns passed on one QB over another, then you know the one they passed on will end up being better. When you have to go back to Bernie Kosar as the last good Cleveland QB, you know you are in trouble. I don’t think you take a 6ft Qb number 1 and is his arm strong enough to throw outdoors ?
Is that your scientific conclusion?
So far his theory works. Of course same said about cubs never winning it and they finally did. I’m rooting for browns . With so many years of top picks they have to hit sometime .
Doug Flutie is 5’10 and has a much better career win percentage than Eli Manning who is 6’4.
Hey Brainiac!
Manning has thrown for over 50,000 yds compared to Flutie at barely over 18,000.
Manning 339 TD’s compared to Flutie at 87.
56,000 yds passing to just about 15,000 yds!
What comparison are your touting in your little dream world? Flutie was a nice little overachiever but there is no comparison here to speak of.
Back to dream land!
@rocky7: how about Drew Brees?
Players are paid for wins, not pretty statistics or style points.
Omg man. Are your crossed eyes effecting your brain activity? 2 super Bowl wins outweighs ANY statistics Flutie put up. You CAN’T be serious
I love biscuits and gravy!