Cleveland Browns real timeline to extend Baker Mayfield

Cleveland Browns will use all 16 games to evaluate Mayfield

The Cleveland Browns have an enormously important decision to make, namely whether to continue with Baker Mayfield as their first-string quarterback. This decision will be made carefully with full consultation between the front office, scouts, coaching staff, general manager Andrew Berry and ownership. It will be made according to the schedules stipulated in the NFL Collective Bargaining Agreement, not by some arbitrary schedule.

This writer was mildly aggravated at provocative Fox Sports commentator Colin Cowherd and the Herd, who was convinced that the Browns would make a final decision on Mayfield’s future after they play the Steelers on October 18, because they will have played four teams with outstanding defensive lines, which supposedly will give the front office all the information that they need to make a $150 million dollar decision.

Cowherd’s show is great and definitely worth listening too, precisely because he is willing to float unorthodox but interesting ideas over the airwaves. But in this case, his theory can be exploded more quickly than one of Jamie Gillan’s practice footballs.

In reality, there is no decision that needs to be made other than head coach Kevin Stefanski telling him whether or not to take the field every Sunday.

By rule, Mayfield’s contract cannot be extended until he is a fourth-year player. This is only his third year. I know the math is complicated, Mr. Cowherd, but hang in there, man.  Neither can he be cut, or to be precise, they cannot quit paying him, because his contract is 100 percent guaranteed. So in the 2020, not one penny can be added and not one penny can be subtracted from his contract. Not one penny.

The only thing that could happen is that Mayfield could be benched in favor of Case Keenum or Garrett Gilbert, or maybe Colin Kaepernick. Or he could be traded. None of those are realistic choices. It’s obvious that Mayfield is the only realistic choice to be the first-string quarterback for the Cleveland Browns in the 2021 season.

So why not at least take a look at the last 10 games of the season to see if you learn something from Mayfield’s — and the team’s — performance?

Anyway, expecting instant success with a new coach (fourth in three years) and new offensive coordinator (also fourth in three years) is not realistic. An abbreviated preseason with zero exhibition games is a disadvantage to a team with a new head coach and new coordinators. Realistically, Mayfield’s numbers  should get better as the season goes on and he and his teammates become more in the groove with the new offense and coaching staff

So, when is the real evaluation of Mayfield going to take place? When will action be taken on his contract and what sort of actions could be taken?

The answer is that decisions will be made starting in mid-March, 2021, assuming that COVID does not delay the Super Bowl and the beginning of the 2021 NFL season. At that time, the 2020 contracts expire, and Baker Mayfield officially becomes a fourth-year player —still under contract exclusively with the Browns — and is eligible for one of three futures.

First, as the most attractive possibility, if things go well and the Browns are excited about having him as their quarterback, they could extend his contract.