We have a better idea about who will be throwing passes to Jarvis Landry this season.
Shortly after word of the trade sending Landry to Cleveland broke, there were multiple reports that the Browns have also traded for Bills quarterback Tyrod Taylor. The Browns are set to send the 65th overall pick in the draft to Buffalo once the trade becomes official next Wednesday.
Taylor leaving the Bills doesn’t come as a surprise as the team never fully committed to him as their starter last season or this offseason. They were due to pay him a $6 million roster bonus at the start of the new league year, but that will now fall to the Browns while the Bills kick off the hunt for a quarterback to join Nathan Peterman on the depth chart in Buffalo. With two first-round picks at their disposal, they have a lot of potential paths to finding that player.
The Browns could revisit Taylor’s deal or could use him as a bridge for a quarterback they select in this year’s draft. They could also opt to spend the first and fourth overall picks in other ways now that Taylor is in town, which is just one of the ripple effects that the trade will have on this year’s quarterback market.
A.J. McCarron was linked to the Browns, but Taylor’s presence likely means he’ll be looking elsewhere along with the rest of the free agents that are about to hit the market. We’ll see how those dominos fall soon enough, but Friday has brought a clearer image of what the Browns offense is going to look like in 2018.
