Former NFL General Manager Charley Casserly, now with NFL Network, polled 24 league executives to gauge the best quarterback prospect in the 2018 NFL Draft.

According to Casserly, 17 of those executives prefer USC quarterback Sam Darnold, 3 prefer Oklahoma quarterback Baker Mayfield, 2 prefer UCLA quarterback Josh Rosen and 2 prefer Wyoming quarterback Josh Allen. When he tallied the votes, from first to fourth, Darnold was first followed by Allen, Mayfield and Rosen.

I polled 24 teams this week and asked them to rank their top 4 QB’s in order. Here are the results of the poll and what teams told me about each of the QB’s @NFLDraft @nflnetwork pic.twitter.com/un3KbZSYWp — Charley Casserly (@CharleyCasserly) April 12, 2018

The Cleveland Browns, who hold the No. 1 overall pick, have been linked to Allen and Darnold primarily.

“I know [Browns General Manager] John [Dorsey] likes Darnold, and I know he likes Allen’s talent. It’ll come down to this: Who do they trust most?," a person familiar with Dorsey explained to Albert Breer.

Browns247 conducted a similar study and found the same results. Darnold is viewed by most as the best prospect available at the position.

The analytics give reason to doubt Allen's professional future. There are more detractors for him than Darnold. All that matters is the evaluation of Cleveland's front office but, in the eyes of talent evaluators, Darnold is the safer pick. When a team is trying to draft a potential franchise quarterback, hitting a double is sometimes better than swinging for the fences and either knocking it out of the park or striking out. Those who strike out find themselves in the first round quarterback market five times since 1999.

It is easy to say that Dorsey might like Allen because of his history with Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes and former Packers quarterback Brett Favre. It could also be pointed out that Darnold makes throws from odd arm slots and is creative in the pocket in a manner that reminds some of Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers. Draft consultant Scot McCloughan was a part of the Seattle Seahawks organization when Russell Wilson was drafted. And where does Matthew Hasselbeck fit into the equation?

A narrative can be twisted to fit any agenda.

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Optimum Scouting's Eric Galko also recently poked a hole in the Mahomes connection.

"People I respect believe that Josh Allen is in play. However, if you read a report and that report says 'people that know John Dorsey, people that know people in that front office' believe it's Josh Allen. A lot of that stems from John Dorsey drafting Pat Mahomes a year ago. And that is not the case," Optimum Scouting's Eric Galko said on a recent 'Scanning the Field' podcast.

"John Dorsey's biggest strength as a GM is his ability to trust the other great scouts in his room. He does a great job of taking everyone's opinion and formulating that in his head to make the correct opinion. He is great at listening to his people. I say that because Chris Ballard, the assistant GM of the Chiefs a year ago, now the Indianapolis Colts GM was a big, big reason why Pat Mahomes was the Chiefs quarterback of the future. Huge reason why that was the case. That does not mean that John Dorsey loves Pat Mahomes. He obviously liked him and agreed with Ballard. Just because Mahomes and Allen are a little bit alike doesn't mean that Dorsey is going to love that quarterback.

I still believe Sam Darnold is the first overall pick. As far as I've heard, everyone in the league believes it will be Sam Darnold first overall."

The decision will be made in less than two weeks when the 2018 NFL Draft begins Apr. 26.