WHY IT WAS MAYFIELD AND NOT ALLEN
By Steve King
The Canton Repository’s longtime Browns beat writer, Steve Doerschuk, has done a great job for the last two decades, especially when it comes to unearthing nuggets that everybody else misses.
He isn’t going to follow the story – and write the story – that all the other reporters are telling. Why should he? Why would be? That would be silly. Yu can get the other stuff everywhere else.
Because he lives so close to the Canton area restaurant where they are held, Doerschuk makes it a point to attend the weekly Pro Football Hall of Fame Luncheon Club’sMonday meetings when they have a Browns theme to them. Such was the case earlier this week – just two days after the NFL Draft had ended — when Browns Vice President of Player Personnel Alonzo Highsmith paid a visit to the Luncheon Club and served as the guest speaker.
Note: 0-16 to 16-0 Shirt
Guess what Highsmith talked about? Right, you guessed it, the draft, and especially Baker Mayfield and why the Browns decided to make the Oklahoma quarterback the No. 1 overall pick.
“Then comes the part where you meet them off the field,” Highsmith said. “You watch their workouts. You watch everything. And Baker blew me away. Highly, highly intelligent. Highly competitive,” Highsmith said, according to the Doerschuk’s story.
“And he had a trait that some of the good ones have. I call it efficacy. That includes the power to effect other people. I thought that of all the quarterbacks I watched, he stood out far and above the other guys. When he walked into a room, you knew he was there.”
Highsmith also talked about Wyoming’s Josh Allen, another quarterback the Browns were believed to have been considering for the No. 1 choice.
“Baker Mayfield lost two receivers and he was the same quarterback,” Highsmith said. “Josh Allen . . . big arm . . . he could throw the ball from here to the moon. When they have to make excuses. . . . Why are they not completing passes? That’s a problem.”
Great stuff, don’t you think?
