5 things the Cleveland Browns must do to reach the Super Bowl in 2020
By Randy Gurzi
1. Get Baker even more comfortable
After firing head coach Hue Jackson and offensive coordinator Todd Haley, the Cleveland Browns turned a corner. They went 5-3 and while interim head coach Gregg Williams got that record, the majority of the credit belongs to Freddie Kitchens who took over for Haley — and subsequently earned the head coaching job.
What Kitchens did that was impressive wasn’t rocket science. He went to Baker Mayfield and discussed with their franchise quarterback which plays he was most comfortable running, then he built his gameplan around that.
The results spoke for themselves as Mayfield finished the final eight games on fire. He wound up throwing 19 touchdowns in those final eight weeks, which led to him breaking the record for most touchdown passes by a rookie all-time.
It wasn’t just the plays Kitchens used to help improve the offense. He also adjusted the blocking scheme so that the offensive line could perform their jobs better as well. This led to far fewer sacks as Mayfield was taken down 20 times in his six appearances with Jackson and Haley calling the shots and just five times with Kitchens. His ability to make Baker comfortable had amazing results and it’s a trend that needs to continue for the Browns to take their next step.
Looking at the coming season, the Browns need to make things even better by doing a couple of things. One is to improve the talent at the tackle position. If the offense protected Mayfield like they did int he second half of the season with Greg Robinson at left tackle, imagine how much better things could be if they went out and landed an elite player at the position.
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Another thing they need to do is find him a go-to receiver. Mayfield excelled at spreading the ball around, but he didn’t have that one guy who could win the contested catches and make the plays that weren’t there. Landing such a target could really help Mayfield take that next step — which in turn would make the Browns a team to worry about as the next postseason, and the 2020 Super Bowl approaches.