Cleveland Browns must change way they protect Baker

The Cleveland Browns have struggled to protect Baker Mayfield. He looks uncomfortable. To get Baker back on track, they must change the protection scheme.

Cleveland Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield has struggled his season. He is experiencing a sophomore slump but his numbers continue to be comparable to other second-year quarterbacks. Doug Lesmerises of Cleveland.com has argued that Baker’s numbers are similar to that of Brett Farve’s in his second year.

Nonetheless, Baker’s struggles have been fodder for clickbait and anyone looking to kick a player when he is down. But this is to be expected in professional football and in a media that gets paid by the click.

There have been numerous articles and much discussion aimed at fixing Baker. Everyone is weighing in on what is wrong with Baker. Others are trying to diagnose and fix Baker’s game. It makes for a lot of fun but in the end, the Browns coaches can get the job done. If the media was that good at it, they would be getting paid to coach Baker instead of writing articles about him.

One interesting article worth reading is the piece by Jake Burns of the OBR.com. He takes up the question of whether or not Baker is a one-read quarterback. The answer may surprise you. Nonetheless, Burns focuses on Baker’s eyes and how that correlates to his throws.

What Burns mentions but glosses over is that Baker feels uncomfortable in the pocket. He fails to connect the dots between feeling uncomfortable in the pocket and Baker’s locking on to a target or rushing his throws.

The reason Baker locks onto targets and rushes throws is that he is uncomfortable in the pocket. If correct, then fixing Baker’s eyes starts by fixing the protection around him.

Only when Mayfield feels comfortable in the pocket will he be relaxed enough to quickly scan through his reads. As where Burns offers us an analysis of what is wrong, fixing the protection may be the solution.