BEREA, Ohio -- Despite being suspended for nearly three full seasons, Cleveland Browns wide receiver Josh Gordon has seen plenty of quarterbacks be added to and released from the roster, and he is confident the team has settled down the turnover, at least for the 2018 season.
On the first day of the new league year, the Browns traded a third-round pick in the 2018 NFL Draft to the Buffalo Bills for veteran quarterback Tyrod Taylor, and six weeks later, selected the reigning Heisman Trophy-winner, Baker Mayfield, with the No. 1 overall pick.
“The most talented quarterbacks I’ve seen come through here -- by far,” Gordon said after a minicamp practice last week. “It’s going to be an interesting thing to watch the quarterback battle go on. You’ve got a proven guy in Tyrod. We’ve got a young talented guy in Baker. I don’t see how it can go wrong, really.”
During his seven-year career with the Baltimore Ravens and Bills, Taylor completed 793 of his 1,271 attempts (62.4 percent) for 9,056 yards and 51 touchdowns against 18 interceptions. Of those 793 completions, 116 went for at least 20 yards and 22 more were 40-yard gains.
In his three seasons with the Bills, the 6-foot-1, 215-pound Taylor completed 774 passes for 8,837 yards and 51 touchdowns against 16 interceptions.
In Gordon’s opinion, Taylor offers the Browns an unmatched competitive fire.
“All I can do is make sure that I’m doing everything I can do to try to match Tyrod’s level of intensity, his focus every morning,” Gordon said. “He’s the first guy in, he’s the last guy to leave. I don’t know a quarterback that works harder than Tyrod. He’s definitely set the bar.”
The 6-foot-1, 215-pound Mayfield put together a Heisman Trophy-winning campaign where he completed 285 of his 404 throws (70.5 percent) for 4,627 yards and 43 touchdowns against six interceptions to cap off a four-year career that started at Texas Tech University.
During his three years at Oklahoma and one season with the Texas Tech Red Raiders, Mayfield completed 1,026 of his 1,497 attempts (68.5 percent) for 14,607 yards and 131 touchdowns against only 30 interceptions.
“Baker, he’s right behind the guy and looking up to a guy that can show him the exact things you need to do to be a professional quarterback in this league,” Gordon said. “So from a quarterback standpoint, we’re really set. We’re really good.”
And Gordon was not the only Browns wide receiver feeling that way as the offseason program wound to a close.
“The accuracy. The leadership, obviously, but (it’s) the way that these guys take the field every day and have been throwing the football,” wide receiver Jarvis Landry said.
“When the pocket is breaking down, their eyes are still down the field. You take these guys that are dual-threat quarterbacks, that want to run as soon as everything goes bad in the pocket, but these guys are looking to extend the play with their arms, but they can with their feet, as well. That is the beauty of this whole thing.”