After passing on Carson Wentz and Deshaun Watson in consecutive years, the Browns finally took a quarterback in the first round last weekend when Oklahoma quarterback Baker Mayfield was the first overall pick. General manager John Dorsey kept the pick under wraps until the very end, which promptly ended speculation that the Browns were taking mock-draft favorite Josh Allen, the Wyoming quarterback long on freakish athleticism but short on franchise-QB-level game film.

In fact, the Browns never considered taking Allen with the top selection. On Monday, Browns V.P. of player personnel Alonzo Highsmith explained that Sam Darnold, who eventually went to the Jets at No. 3, was originally atop his personal quarterback draft board. So how did Cleveland end up on Mayfield?

"Here's the honest to God's truth," Highsmith told fans at the Hall of Fame Luncheon Club, via the Canton Repository's Steve Doerschuk . "From the start of this college football season to the end of the season, I had Darnold No. 1 and Baker No. 2, (Josh) Rosen No. 3, (Lamar) Jackson No. 4 and (Josh) Allen after that. On our way through everything, you couldn't tell me Darnold wasn't the best. I did all my evaluations of the season.

"Then comes the part where you meet them off the field. You watch their workouts. You watch everything. And Baker blew me away. Highly, highly intelligent. Highly competitive. And he had a trait that some of the good ones have. I call it efficacy. That includes the power to affect other people. I thought that of all the quarterbacks I watched, he stood out far and above the other guys. When he walked into a room, you knew he was there."

But what about Allen, who was linked to the team in the weeks leading up to the draft. Highsmith explains:

"Baker Mayfield lost two receivers and he was the same quarterback," he said. "Josh Allen ... big arm ... he could throw the ball from here to the moon. When they have to make excuses ... why are they not completing passes? That's a problem."

Fair enough; Allen's college numbers don't blow you away and if you're not convinced he'll be a better pro than college player, you move on. But what about Rosen, widely considered the most NFL-ready of the quarterbacks drafted. This is when things get weird.

"I was at an airport," Highsmith begins. "UCLA's volleyball team was in front of me. You heard so much about Rosen. He's this or that. We all know how people talk. So I asked one of the volleyball coaches, 'What's Rosen like?' He said, 'Aaaaa, you should probably ask his girlfriend. She's one of the players. She's over there.'

"I'm like, 'All right coach. That's good enough.' I don't know what all this means, but there was something about him that bothered me."

Seems like a terrible reason to disqualify a candidate but we're guessing there's more to it than just a chance encounter with someone tangentially in Rosen's life. 

Either way, Highsmith's account on Mayfield's attributes aligns with what Browns coach Hue Jackson said over the weekend, when he admitted that he wasn't a Mayfield fan until five weeks ago.

"I'm being very honest," he said. "It started at the combine (March 2-5), just talking to him and listening to some of the things he said, and I go, 'Okay, well that still didn't convince me yet.'"

Perceptions changed when Jackson, Dorsey and offensive coordinator Todd Haley flew to Oklahoma for a private workout.

Working him out and spending that time in Norman and watching him with his teammates and how he throws the football (convinced me),'' Jackson continued. "The football jumps off his arm. He has a quick arm, he's very accurate with the ball, and from there, then obviously spending some more time when he came here. ...

"Baker Mayfield is, from a football IQ standpoint, is as good as I've been around,'' he continued. "He has a tremendous arm talent, more so than I think anybody knows. Obviously he's proven he's very accurate with the football and I really think he's a tremendous leader, so he really has a lot of qualities that we look for and I think it's now somewhat coming out that a lot of people had him as their best quarterback so we're very excited to have him and very glad that he's going to be here in this organization."

Of all the quarterbacks drafted, Mayfield is probably the furthest away from a starting job. That could change, of course, but Allen, Rosen, Darnold and Jackson -- in that order -- will probably see the field first.