Baker Mayfield's selection as the number one overall pick in the 2018 NFL Draft may have seemed ill-conceived to some.An undersized quarterback with some character concerns; that preconception clearly didn't phase the Cleveland Browns. The reigning Heisman Trophy winner didn't start the draft process as the number one signal caller on the their board, but there was no doubt in the building by the end of it. He was their guy. The decision to pass on Sam Darnold could come back to bite them, but the reasons they've recently given for their love of Mayfield reveal that the call wasn't really all that difficult. John Dorsey got his man, and if you buy into their evaluation, there's good reason to believe the Oklahoma standout can be the pivot that turns the franchise's fortunes around for good. "The guy knows how to play the game, and knows how to win," the former Chiefs GM said on the first night of the draft per ESPN.Dorsey noted that they tried to keep things simple whilst studying his tape, and came to the simple conclusion that his surgical dismantling of college defenses was too hard to ignore. "Trust your eyes," was the mantra that Dorsey followed when evaluating all of the top QB's, and his eyes clearly told him that Mayfield was their guy.It's easy to see why too, after an incredible senior year at Oklahoma in which he completed an astounding 70.5% of his passes for 4627 yards and 43 touchdowns, whilst tossing just six interceptions. But it wasn't even his mammoth production that really caught the eye of the Browns hierarchy. 

Head coach Hue Jackson alluded to Mayfield's unique personality, in particular his innate leadership skills. Jackson remembers the number one pick's entry at his pro day at Oklahoma, relaying how Mayfield walked into the building and let out a high-pitched "hee-hee.", to which his teammates in attendance all responded in kind and made their way over to him. That led the former Bengals OC to call Mayfield the "Pied Piper of Oklahoma football."

"It’s the most unbelievable thing I’ve ever seen," Jackson said.

Assistant GM Eliot Wolf preached that same kind of effect that Mayfield has on his teammates, noting a game against Texas last season as a prime example.

"In pregame, he would walk by a group of Oklahoma players and there was just that instant energy that everyone had," Wolf said. 

The 'it' factor

Browns’ vice president of player personnel Alonzo Highsmith revealed this week that he had Sam Darnold rated as the top QB at the end of the college season. The more he delved into Mayfield though, the more he liked him and it became apparent that the Oklahoma standout had that one fabled intangible quality that all the great ones have; the 'it' factor. 

"I have always wondered, when it comes to being a great football player, whose standards are we judging them by?" Highsmith said. "It is about playing the game. It is about being a good football player."

"It is about wins," Highsmith said. "I thought Mayfield made all of those checks to me and he had the ‘it’ factor to me."

The Browns pack of chief evaluators, Dorsey, Wolf and former Redskins GM Scot McCloughan, who have all come out of the Packers system, shared the same opinion. All areas considered, tangibles and intangibles, Mayfield was the best quarterback in the draft. 

They loved his football IQ, how much responsibility he had pre snap at Oklahoma, and how quickly he processed information both on paper and on the field. 

His ability to decipher defenses at speed will prove vital in the NFL, and its an area that Dorsey was particularly impressed with whens studying his tape. 

"The one thing I really love is when you talk to the Oklahoma staff. When he gets to Oklahoma, he begins to learn the playbook in three days," Dorsey said.

The Browns have taken what has been perceived as a big risk, but to them it seems like they believe it'll be a home run pick. 

"I have no qualms about him," Dorsey said, "as a man and as a football player.".

Only time will tell, but if these revelations don't convince you that Mayfield is the man to bring glory to Cleveland, then nothing short of seeing it with your own eyes will.