Browns trade for their next bridge quarterback in Tyrod Taylor

The Cleveland Browns swung a deal for Buffalo Bills quarterback Tyrod Taylor, the latest (and best) bridge quarterback for the Browns.

The Cleveland Browns landed their latest bridge quarterback on Friday by acquiring Tyrod Taylor from the Buffalo Bills in exchange for a third-round selection in the 2018 NFL Draft.

That pick will be No. 65 overall, according to the NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport.

Browns general manager John Dorsey then cut off any possibility of a quarterback “controversy” by sending DeShone Kizer, last year’s starting quarterback, to the Green Bay Packers for cornerback Damarious Randall – who was last seen in Cleveland shutting down wide receiver Josh Gordon.

In a related note, Taylor’s arrival also shuts down any chance the Browns will waste time on head coach Hue Jackson’s favorite quarterback, A.J. McCarron.

Taylor, who led the Bills to the playoffs in 2017, becomes the latest in a long line of bridge quarterbacks that the Browns have acquired over the years, but he is also arguably the best bridge quarterback the Browns have brought in.

In three seasons with the Bills, Taylor started 43 games, throwing for 8,857 yards, 51 touchdowns (while rushing for 14 more) and completing 62.6 percent of his passes. Most impressively, he only threw 16 interceptions in the those three season, which will be a nice change of pace after watching Kizer throw 22 interceptions in just 15 games last season.

Related: Browns trade for wide receiver Jarvis Landry

Taylor also did that while throwing to the likes of Deonte Thompson, Zay Jones, Robert Woods and Justin Hunter. Now, with the Browns, he will get to work with Corey Coleman, David Njoku, Duke Johnson, Gordon and the newly acquired Jarvis Landry.

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But while Taylor is an improvement over Kizer, Cody Kessler and Kevin Hogan, it is all not peaches and cream when it comes to the 27-year-old veteran.

For starters, Taylor made 14 starts last season and the Bills finished the year as the 31st-ranked passing offense in the NFL. Taylor has also seen his numbers drop across the board in each of his three seasons as a starter.

Taylor is also set to make $16 million this season — $10 million in salary and $6 million from a roster bonus due on March 16 – in the final year of the two-year, $31.5 million contract he signed with the Bills before last season.

The Bills don’t have any viable options on their roster after Taylor, but still chose to move him now to avoid paying him the roster bonus. It is always a little bit concerning when a team gives up on a player as they know him better than anyone else.

The Browns are not looking for Taylor to do anything other than hold things together until the quarterback they select with the No. 1 overall selection in the 2018 NFL Draft is ready to play. They are only on the hook for one year of Taylor’s contract and have more than enough salary cap space to satisfy the requirements of his contract.

Next: Browns trade for Damarious Randall

The best-case scenario is that Taylor stays healthy and plays well enough that the Browns can turn the team over to the new quarterback when they choose to, not because they are forced to.

The worst-case scenario … well, we all know how that goes, so there is no reason to go down that road today.

Taylor is not the longterm answer and in no way precludes the Browns from selecting a quarterback with the top pick in the upcoming draft. But he also makes the quarterback position better than it was last year.

Which, for now, is good enough for the Browns.