Cleveland Browns: Comparing Baker Mayfield to Brett Favre
By Randy Gurzi
Nate Burleson of the NFL Network broke down the film to compare Cleveland Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield to Brett Favre after Odell Beckham, Jr. made the comparison and called Mayfield a Hall of Famer
For some reason, everyone picked apart Odell Beckham‘s words when he said he wanted the Cleveland Browns to be the next ‘Patriots’. Apparently, wanting great things upsets people, but it really shouldn’t have. OBJ just aspires to be great.
He also thinks he has a teammate who can be great to work with. On top of saying he wants the team to be a dynasty, Beckham said quarterback Baker Mayfield was similar to Brett Favre and would be a Hall of Famer when it’s all said and done.
That comment also raised some eyebrows, and it got Nate Burleson of the NFL Network thinking. In his segment, “The Bur-Lesson,” the former wide receiver looked deeper at this claim. First, he said he expects Mayfield to make a big leap this season but wanted to look more at how the two compare.
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Then Burleson looked at the draft day photo where Mayfield recreated the iconic Favre draft picture. He then dove into the film, starting with their ability to hit their targets on tight-window throws.
After seeing Favre carve up the Cincinnati Bengals, he showed Mayfield throw a dime to Jarvis Landry in double coverage, leaving defenders helpless. What was crazy was crazy is this throw came in his first-ever game on Thursday Night against the New York Jets.
From there, there he looked at them throwing risky passes. A 1993 wildcard round play saw Favre throw a touchdown to Sterling Sharpe while rolling left and throwing right. It was a gamble of a pass, but paid off. Then, it was Baker’s turn.
Here, he showed Mayfield rolling left and throwing into coverage again — this time with three defenders against the Carolina Panthers. Burleson said it was a calculated risk by the quarterback because a pick there would be the same as a punt.
In the end, he said the picture was a closer representation of Favre than his gameplay. This wasn’t to slight Mayfield though as he did say the Browns signal-caller was a better decision-maker than the Hall of Fame quarterback.
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Big praise from Burleson who said Mayfield is on the right track as long as he continues to use the weapons at his disposal. So, maybe OBJ isn’t wrong after all?