Browns trade for Tyrod Taylor

The wild Friday for the Cleveland Browns and John Dorsey continued even as I was writing my earlier post about the team's trade for Jarvis Landry as the Browns brought in their "Bridge" quarterback from across Lake Erie as veteran Tyrod Taylor was acquired from the Buffalo Bills for the Browns third-round pick (65) in April's draft.

Taylor led Buffalo to their first playoff berth after 17 years of missing the postseason but threw an interception for his only significant passing stat in the Bills 10-3 loss in Jacksonville.
Taylor turns 29 in August and will become a free agent at the end of the 2018 season, so this is essentially a one year showcase for Taylor to play while whoever the Browns draft at quarterback learns the professional game.
Taylor could then re-sign with the Browns as the backup or with a good year in Cleveland, might be able to sign a contract elsewhere and perhaps start for that team.

Here is what the Browns will get from Tyrod Taylor- he's a mobile quarterback (Over 400 yards rushing), he takes care of the football (only four interceptions), he is an accurate passer on short and intermediate passes, but doesn't throw the ball as well deep and the price that is often paid in order to avoid interceptions is holding onto the football and taking the sack which Taylor did 45 times last season with the Bills.

Tyrod Taylor will be what the Browns were unfairly asking of DeShone Kizer (more on him in the next post)- he'll be a smart quarterback that knows his limitations and rarely makes silly mistakes.
In other words, he's a veteran professional that isn't going to win games with spectacular plays but rarely will hand them to the opposition on the flip side of the coin.
Taylor's never been noted as a locker room problem and despite the cost of the first pick of the third round, which I might have thought was a mild overpay normally (If you choose to include this deal with the Jarvis Landry bargain, it seems more palatable), I can understand why John Dorsey acted now.
Perhaps someone had tipped the team off that A.J. McCarron wasn't interested in being a bridge to the drafted QB or the Browns didn't want to gamble on the injury issues with Sam Bradford or Teddy Bridgewater, didn't want to pay a pile of money for the limitations of one-year wonder Case Keenum or settle for career backups like Chase Daniel, so the Browns felt the need to strike now.

All of those things make sense to me and Tyrod Taylor should be able to do for the Browns exactly what he is being brought to Cleveland to do- win a few games, don't make mistakes and keep the team competitive until the drafted player is ready.
If he is able to do that then the third rounder might not be that much of a loss for a team that needs credibility badly.

Back later with the final trade of the day that involved players, flipped picks and the end of the one year reign of DeShone Kizer.