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Tyrod Taylor was at a movie when Cleveland Browns selected Baker Mayfield with No. 1 pick

Quarterback Tyrod Taylor was at a movie when the Cleveland Browns selected Baker Mayfield with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2018 NFL Draft.

CLEVELAND -- While the eyes of the football world were focused on AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas to see what the Cleveland Browns would do with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2018 NFL Draft last month, current starting quarterback Tyrod Taylor was focused on enjoying a night away from the game.

Taylor learned that the Browns had taken former Oklahoma quarterback Baker Mayfield with the No. 1 overall pick when he received a call from coach Hue Jackson while walking into a movie theater in the Cleveland suburb of Strongsville.

“He had told me who we drafted, and I didn’t necessarily have a reaction or anything,” Taylor told the media at the 2018 Cleveland Browns Foundation Golf Outing at Westwood Country Club in Rocky River Monday.

“I appreciate him calling. My mindset doesn’t change. It’s not going to change. I’m going to continue to put my work hat on every day, continue to lead the guys and do whatever it takes to turn this organization around and push my game to the next level.”

While admitting that Mayfield is “the future of the organization,” Jackson felt it was necessary to reaffirm to Taylor that the seven-year pro would remain the team’s starting quarterback.

“I think it’s important,” Jackson said. “As I said when we brought him here, he’s our starting quarterback. I think our quarterback should know exactly what we’re trying to accomplish and do.

“He’s still the starter. I wanted him to know that we were bringing Baker aboard and Baker would compete, but at the same time, I wanted to make sure he knew he had my support, just as Baker has my support, just as every quarterback on this team has my support.”

Bothered more by the lack of dialogue in “The Quiet Place” than whom the Browns selected at No. 1 overall, Taylor is ready to resume the offseason program today, when the offense and defense will be able to compete against each other for the first time since the end of the 2017 regular season.

“Whoever was taken, that doesn’t necessarily bother me,” Taylor said. “I welcomed him to the team, but my mindset when I first came into the league was ‘Prepare each and every day as the starter and keep pushing yourself.’ Now, I’m here to help turn this organization around and win games, and I’m looking forward to doing that.”

During his seven-year career with the Baltimore Ravens and Buffalo Bills, Taylor completed 793 of his 1,271 attempts (62.4 percent) for 9,056 yards and 51 touchdowns against 18 interceptions. Of those 793 completions, 116 went for at least 20 yards and 22 more were 40-yard gains.

In his three seasons with the Bills, the last of which ended with the snapping of a 17-year playoff drought, the 6-foot-1, 215-pound Taylor completed 774 passes for 8,837 yards and 51 touchdowns against 16 interceptions.

“He’s a competitor, as well as myself,” Taylor said of Mayfield. “I think that’s what drives us. That’s what gets us to the point that we’re at now in our careers, but like I said, that doesn’t faze me.

“I’ve been put in a number of situations throughout my career, and I’m going to continue to keep being the same person and continue to keep, I guess you could say, proving people wrong, but more so just doing it for myself mentally and helping the team win games.”

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