Final Landing Spots for the NFL Draft’s Top 5 QB’s

No one knows what the Cleveland Browns are going to do with the number 1 pick in the 2018 NFL Draft. It seems there is a 99.9% chance that they draft a quarterback at the top spot, but who? You have heard Sam Darnold, Josh Allen, and most recently Baker Mayfield.

The Browns pick at 1 is going to start a run on quarterbacks in the first round to the point that five quarterbacks are going to be chosen in the top 15. There is a consensus top five in this draft with Josh Rosen, Lamar Jackson, and the three already mentioned. So here are the predictions for when these five QB’s will get selected:

1. Cleveland Browns- Josh Allen, QB Wyoming: Allen is the most polarizing prospect in the draft. He can throw the ball farther than Uncle Rico from Napoleon Dynamite, and has scouts oozing at his height and hand size (6’5″ 10 1/8″). Still, he never posted really good numbers at Wyoming with his inaccurate arm. The pick would be strictly based on what he could become, and John Dorsey loves the big-armed QB’s as evidence of him picking Patrick Mahomes last year for the Chiefs.

3. New York Jets- Baker Mayfield, QB Oklahoma: Will the Jets find there answer in Mayfield? Not sure.  One thing that is for sure is that Mayfield is a competitor, and a good quarterback. He completed at least 70%  of his passes in his final two seasons while throwing 83 touchdowns and only 14 interceptions.

12. Buffalo Bills- Sam Darnold, QB USC: Darnold was once widely considered the best QB in the draft, but teams love to nitpick the quarterbacks. I don’t blame them, they are deciding who to turn their franchise over to. Darnold has his issues, mainly a slow release and high turnover rate, but he has the prototypical NFL size to match with good pocket presence to go along with a toughness he brings. I think there is also something to be said about the fact that once he got the Trojans starting gig, he led them to back-to-back 10+ wins which hadn’t happened since 2007-2008. I doubt the Bills stay at 12 to grab Darnold as teams will be clamoring to trade up, but I expect him to be circling the wagons very soon.

15. Arizona Cardinals- Josh Rosen, QB UCLA: Rosen’s draft stock has fallen, but he is still going to be picked in the first round. There are concerns about him as a person, like how much he actually likes football, but he has great footwork and has experience going under center: something that usually correlates to success in the NFL. Rosen is also knocked for his durability, but there was really only one year that he didn’t start all, if not close to all, the games for the Bruins. Just like the Bills, the Cardinals will try moving up to snatch Rosen.

23. New England Patriots- Lamar Jackson, QB Louisville: What a shocker here. With Tom Brady getting older and Jimmy Garrapolo gone, the Pats need to think about their future at QB. It was reported that they were impressed by Jackson in a private workout, and Belichick would love to add another the dimension to his offense after Brady is gone, which Jackson brings with his ability to carry the football from the quarterback position.

-Jarrod Ribaudo (@Jribs53)