ORLANDO — General manager John Dorsey didn’t get the memo last week that the Browns had settled on USC’s Sam Darnold at No. 1 after their whirlwind quarterback workout week.
“The draft is five weeks away,” he told cleveland.com and a small group of Browns writers covering the NFL Annual Meeting. “I know this. They’re all good football players. You can’t have enough of them.”
Dorsey said the busy week, which included private workouts and meetings with UCLA’s Josh Rosen and Oklahoma’s Baker Mayfield, and Pro Days and more for Darnold and Wyoming’s Josh Allen, didn’t make their decision more difficult.
“Not necessarily,” he said. “There are few more pieces to the puzzle left.”
He also said it’s “fair enough” to say that all four quarterbacks are still legitimately in the discussion as they work through the process.
But if the draft were tomorrow, does he have a leader?
“I won’t tell you,” he said. “I won’t tell you who it is. It could be Saquon Barkley (smiling).”
The Browns will still bring the four quarterbacks to the Browns facility for predraft visits, likely in the same week like they did the workouts.
“You get to see them back to back to back, so it’s all fresh in your mind,” said Dorsey. “So therefore there’s more clarity of thought, of understanding that position.”
He acknowleged that four good quarterbacks is better than 2013 when there were none.
“If you were going to that position, it’s a good problem to have,” he said.
In fact, the draft is so deep for quarterbacks that Dorsey might take two with his nine picks. The Browns have studied others, including Louisville’s Lamar Jackson and Oklahoma State’s Mason Rudolph.
“I’ve seen crazier things happen,” said Dorsey, citing the Redskins taking Robert Griffin III and Kirk Cousins in 2012.
But two in the first round?
“You know what, if they’re good football players, why not?” he said. “You never know.”
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He also didn’t rule out trading the No. 1 pick if the offer is right and it makes sense.
“You have to explore all options,” he said. “You never know until you know. We have to do that as an organization. To get us better I’ll explore every opportunity there is up until it comes time to make that pick.”
He acknowledged that the Jets called about the No. 1 pick, “but it wasn’t what we were looking for” and that any offer for No. 1, “it better be pretty good.”
As for whether or not the organization has reached a consensus on a QB, he indicated not yet.
“There’s great communication and really good discussions in every different phase of this thing,” he said. “And moving forward, I’ll continue to hope there’s that ongoing discussion and everybody sees it like mindedness. If not, let’s have a discussion and talk it out.”
He said Darnold “had a really nice workout. He showed feet, he showed the ability to roll out, extend the play, he showed the quick release, he showed downfield accuracy. I mean it really was a really good workout.”
He was glad it rained through most of the session.
“There was a degree of adversity, and it didn’t affect him,” said Dorsey. “It’s always good to see guys perform under adverse situations. Plus, there was a big crowd. I thought he did very nice.”
He said Allen alleviated accuracy concerns with his shortened stride and showed off his cannon arm.
“They’re both really talented players,” he said. “I will say one of the receivers at Wyoming, I thought he broke his sternum there in the end zone when Josh Allen kind of ripped the ball right in his chest. He’s got a very strong arm.”
He said Rosen assured him that the ESPN report about him preferring the Giants to the Browns was untrue.
“I told you back in Alabama when we get together we’re going to talk like grown men, and that’s how we talked,” he said. “He came across, he’s not a bad person, I mean he’s really smart, he’s engaging, he does want to be in Cleveland. After our conversations, he has no problems being in Cleveland.
“Again, it’s one of those conversations where that story can take a life of its own but until you meet him I’m not going to get into that. I want to see the person before I make judgment on a person. That’s fair, isn’t it?”
He said Rosen’s workout was “pretty good. Really good. Great facilities. Chip Kelly did a nice job of opening up the doors to the organization. Again he showed arm strength, he showed footwork. It was better than I saw on film. He can throw on the move. Really, he’s a really good passer.”
Dorsey said he spend a few more days in Florida looking at players here and “then kind of the start of the Easter weekend, I’ll be busy at work. I’ll be back in the dark and kind of start tightening this thing up.”
In other Browns QB news, Dorsey said the signing of Drew Stanton will benefit the team in multiple ways.
“Having a veteran presence in there really helps the process along,” he said. “With this acquisition we not only got a guy who knows the game and knows the term professionalism, I’m excited to add a presence like that in the room. It helps the starter, it helps the young guys. It helps mold that room together. We’ve done that before and it was successful.”
As for if the signing spells the end for 2016 third-round pick Cody Kessler, he said, “When I get back to the office Thursday night we’ll be able to sit and talk about that as a group.”
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