Cleveland Browns: Baker Mayfield, Sam Darnold compete for bragging rights

The Cleveland Browns will be traveling to New York for Monday Night Football against the Jets, pitting Baker Mayfield and Sam Darnold against each other.

Cleveland Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield and New York Jets quarterback Sam Darnold, two prominent members of the highly touted quarterback class of 2018, are headlining Monday Night Football this week. Lest anyone has forgotten, many writers (including this one) were saying that the 2018 quarterback class was the best since 1983.

Last year, Mayfield was one of the top rookies in the NFL, winning the PFWA Rookie of the Year, much to the consternation of at least one pundit, Colin Cowherd of Fox Sports, who pronounced Mayfield “undraftable” due to his history of getting in trouble. Conversely, Cowherd fawned all over the New York Jets for drafting Sam Darnold.

Mayfield and Darnold faced off in their rookie years in the game which turned out to be the first win for the Browns after an 0-16 season the year before. Undraftable Mayfield subbed for Tyrod Taylor after Taylor suffered a concussion, going 17-23 for 201 yards in a little more than a half and a passer rating of 100.1. Darnold was rather flat, completing fewer than 50 percent of his passes, 15-31 for only 169 yards, with two interceptions and a passer rating of 38.2.

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Darnold came out a year early for the NFL Draft at 21-years-old, whereas Mayfield had four years of major college ball, plus a fifth year in which he sat out to transfer from Texas Tech to Oklahoma.  Hence there is no way this side of DeShone Kizer that a guy skips a year of college and performs as well as the guy who stayed in school.

You would not want your appendix taken out by a surgeon who skipped his last year of medical school in order to start operating on patients right away.  Neither should anyone entrust a football team to a quarterback with fewer than four years of college, unless it is Lamar Jackson, who was far above average as a runner, which compensated for the lack of passing experience.

Darnold might be very good by around next season. He’s big, athletic, smart and his arm is as strong as Mayfield’s. However numerous observers, such as Performance Labs of California, have pointed out that he has a looping arm motion when he throws, and that gives the defensive back an extra split second to know where the ball is headed. For that reason, this observer rated Darnold fourth overall among quarterbacks in 2018, but definitely high first round.

Like the Browns, the Jets are in hot water with the fan base, having blown a 16-point lead Week 1. The defense, coached by former Browns coach Gregg Williams, was outstanding until C.J. Mosley went out with an injury. At that point, another distinguished alumnus of the quarterback class of 2018, Josh Allen, led the Buffalo Bills on two long touchdown drives to edge the Jets.

Cleveland Browns fans ought not blame Darnold just because Cleveland’s arch nemesis has a man crush on the kid, while also hating Baker Mayfield and ridiculing John Dorsey for drafting him. From all reports, Darnold is a great kid and is going to be a very good NFL quarterback at some point. Nevertheless, it is only human nature to want to see the Browns prevail over the Jets to watch Cowherd squirm.