Jackson: Taylor is starting QB

Bridge, smidge. New Browns player Tyrod Taylor wants to be a bridge quarterback, but not necessarily the kind that shows the keys for success to a rookie — the first player picked in the 2018 draft next month, for example.

Not that Taylor won’t help Sam Darnold, Josh Allen, Josh Rosen, Baker Mayfield or whomever general manager John Dorsey selects as the quarterback of the future. But that isn’t the first thing he thought about when the Browns acquired him on March 9 from the Buffalo Bills for a third-round draft pick.

“That’s a term other people use,” Taylor said March 15 during a news conference at Browns headquarters in Berea.

“I don’t view myself as a bridge quarterback. I’m a quarterback — as far as bridge, hopefully I’m hoping bridge this team to a Super Bowl. That’s the plan.”

Head coach Hue Jackson has a plan, too — make Taylor the starter for 2018, regardless whether the Browns spend the first pick on a quarterback.

“He’s going to be the starting quarterback,” Jackson said about 30 minutes after Taylor, wide receiver Jarvis Landry and safety Damarious Randall sat in front of the media. “There is no competition.

“It’s the first time I’ve had a chance to do that. It really gives me a chance to show the rest of the team who the leader of the franchise is. It’s going to be Tyrod Taylor. We’re going to get in line with him and follow him and he’s going to lead this organization to winning.”

One reason the Browns are 1-31 under Jackson is injuries forced him to start Cody Kessler as a rookie in 2016. Kessler was 0-8.

DeShone Kizer, since dealt to Green Bay as part of the Randall trade, was 0-15 as a rookie starter in 2017.

“We’ve played young players here the last two years, and that hasn’t worked. So I think grooming a young quarterback,

letting him learn, sit and learn and grow and understand what it takes to play in the National Football League is truly the way to do it. You go into this saying Tyrod is the starter. God forbid something ever happens, but we’ve got to make sure we have other quarterbacks that are ready to play, too.”

Taylor is in the final year of a two-year contract he signed with Buffalo in 2017. He led the Bills to the playoffs last season, ending a 17-year drought that was the longest in professional sports in the United States. Now that honor belongs to baseball’s Mariners at 16 years. The Browns are right behind at 15 years. Taylor will be the 29th quarterback to start for the Browns in 20 years when he takes the first snap in the season opener.

“I can’t really control what guys in the past have done,” Taylor said. “I walked into a similar situation in Buffalo where it was 17 years that we hadn’t been to the playoffs and was able to help lead that group of players and that team to somewhere that city hasn’t seen in a while.

“Of course, it’s a work in progress here, and I’m putting my best foot forward along with these guys here at the podium as well as the guys in the locker room to go out to change the culture around here as well.”

Taylor is 22-20 for his career. He has a career completion

percentage of 62.4 (793 of 1,271) with 51 touchdown passes and 18 interceptions.

“I think the beauty of Tyrod is he’s a natural leader,” Dorsey said. “I think he has the skill set physically to extend plays. He does not turn the ball over, which I really like and admire. He has the arm strength to really go deep. I think he fits the mechanics of what Hue and (offensive coordinator) Todd (Haley) are looking for in the offense. I just thought it was a natural fit.”

Still, Dorsey isn’t going to draft a quarterback first or fourth overall to rot on the bench. For the record, Dorsey said drafting a quarterback with one of their early picks is “a hypothetical.”

“I’m always open to educating guys, but at the same time it’s a balance between going out there and leading a group as well, pouring your energy into bettering yourself and as well as going out there and helping win games,” Taylor said. “The learning process happens naturally, but as far as dedicating my team to teaching someone the game, of course (I will). They have to learn it on their own as well.”

Taylor knows what it’s like to sit. As a sixth-round draft choice by the Ravens in 2011, he sat behind Joe Flacco for four seasons without a start. He attempted a total of 35 passes in 14 games before signing a three-year, $3.35 million contract with the Bills in 2015.