Comparing Baker Mayfield to the other rookie quarterbacks so far
By Mitch Zoloty
The Cleveland Browns received a lot of flak for selecting Baker Mayfield with the number one overall pick in the draft. Were the critics right?
John Dorsey and the Cleveland Browns decided that Baker Mayfield would be the best quarterback to come out of the 2018 draft class when they took him with the first overall pick. Many believed that this pick should have been Sam Darnold. Personally, I thought that Josh Rosen should have been selected with the pick.
Some other factions within the Browns fan base believed that Josh Allen or Lamar Jackson should be selected with the pick. To make this comparison fun and interesting, let’s turn it into a game. Jackson will be left out since he has not started a game yet.
The quarterbacks will be compared by 10 different statistics and will be given a score of 1-4 according to their ranking within the statistic. 1 being the best, 4 being the lowest. The goal is to have the lowest average score.
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The nine categories will be: winning percentage as a starter, completion percentage, touchdowns, interceptions, percentage of passes that are interceptions, touchdown to interception ratio, passing yards per game, fourth quarter comebacks, and game winning drives.
Some of theses statistics will be skewed since some quarterbacks have started more games than others, so these rankings might not be completely accurate. Take this with a grain of salt since the quarterbacks are only nine games into their careers.
Winning Percentage as a Starter
"1. Josh Rosen (2-3) 40% (tie) 1. Josh Allen (2-3) 40% (tie) 3. Sam Darnold (3-6) 33.333% 4. Baker Mayfield (1-5) 16.667%"
Analysis: Personally, I think it is unfair to rank quarterbacks by their wins. However, in the NFL, winning is a key trait in a successful franchise quarterback. Every quarterback on this list does not have a winning record, which says a lot about the talent around them.
Young quarterbacks need talent around them to win and competent coaching staffs. A case can be made that all of these quarterbacks have neither of those. Mayfield may have the best talent around him of the quarterbacks on this list, but his head coach was by far the most incompetent.
Darnold was said to be in the best position coming out of the draft of these four quarterbacks, so it is surprising to see him third on the list. The Cardinals and the Bills were both thought to be the two worst teams in the league, which makes it even more surprising to see their quarterbacks at the top of this list.