Tyrod Taylor Will Be a Top 10 Quarterback in 2018

Tyrod Taylor brings stability to the quarterback position that the Browns have not had in the past. He finished with a 22-20 record over three seasons with the Buffalo Bills, despite not having much talent around him. The 28-year-old signal caller led the Bills to their first playoff berth since 1999 last season. He now joins the Browns, who currently hold the league’s longest playoff drought.

The Virginia Tech alum is good at throwing the deep ball and making plays with his feet. According to T.J. Hernandez of 4for4.com, Taylor’s 21.2 percent deep ball rate ranked seventh among quarterbacks over the last three seasons. He also was the only QB in the NFL with three straight rushing seasons of 420+ yards and 4+ TD. Since 2015, Taylor has the NFL’s third best TD/INT rate posting 51 touchdowns against only 16 interceptions (3.19 TD/INT), according to Field Yates of ESPN.com.

Taylor does struggle with throws over the middle and that normally has two excuses attached to it. Critics will say Taylor is too short in size to be a consistent threat over the middle of the field. Supporters will discuss the lack of talent Buffalo had at receiver and his success on third down. I think the answer is somewhere in the middle. Certainly, his size does affect his vision in the pocket on over the middle throws but Charles Clay (injured most of last season), Jordan Matthews (25 catches), Zay Jones (27 catches), and Kelvin Benjamin (32 catches/acquired at trade deadline) are a pitiful group of offensive weapons. LeSean McCoy being the leading receiver at 59 catches is quite embarrassing.

With all that being said, expect Taylor to be hovering around that top 8-12 quarterbacks range in 2018. He’s heading into the season with a talented offensive line, Pro Bowl caliber receivers in Jarvis Landry and Josh Gordon, a stable of running backs, and a brilliant offensive mind in Todd Haley running the show. Taylor isn’t going to throw for 5,000 yards and 50 touchdowns, but the Browns don’t need that from him. They’re looking for a steady hand that can distribute the ball to all of these weapons and minimize turnovers. Tyrod will be that guy for Cleveland in 2018.

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