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It has been just over a week since the Cleveland Browns made the decision to take former Oklahoma quarterback Baker Mayfield with the first overall pick in the 2018 NFL Draft. It was a move that came with a bit of surprise given that USC's Sam Darnold was long perceived as being the top overall pick in this year's class at the position.
With that in mind, Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated recently stated in an interview with The Big Lead with Jason McIntyre he stated that the Browns were the only team in the top five draft picks to have Mayfield as the top choice.
Look, I can tell you this point blank – the Browns were the only team drafting in the top 5 that didn’t have Sam [Darnold] as their #1 QB.
There had previously been talks that the New York Jets had some significant interest in Mayfield after moving up to the third overall pick, but that was likely done with the presumption that Darnold would be off the board at the first overall spot. The fact that the USC product fell into their laps at the third selection likely made the move up more worth it.
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Meanwhile, there had been previous reports that the New York Giants would only consider taking Darnold had they gone the route of taking a quarterback. The Denver Broncos at the fifth overall pick had also shown interest in the 20-year-old by working him out a couple of times in the pre-draft process.
Lastly, the fourth overall spot had also belonged to the Browns, which ruled him out of contention for that spot had he still been on the board.
Ultimately, the Browns had got the quarterback that they were eyeing for several weeks leading up the draft. It was a thorough evaluation of Mayfield that team appears to be completely committed to the task of molding him to be the long-term answer under center.
