Cleveland Browns Bye Week report cards: Quarterback Baker Mayfield

Giving out mid-term grades for the Cleveland Browns

The Cleveland Browns enter their bye week with a record of 5-3, and since they’ve played half their season, it’s a good time to give out mid-term report cards for each of the position groups. Quarterback is up first, so Baker Mayfield will be metaphorically asked to stay after class.

Starting off on the wrong foot

After six weeks, Mayfield’s term wasn’t going well at all. He was 4-2 as a starter, but had not put together a complete four quarters of solid play. He had the worst game of his career against the Pittsburgh Steelers while dealing with a rib injury. Even considering he was in an entirely new offensive system, with a new coach he’d met just a few weeks before the season, and all the offseason changes due to the pandemic, Mayfield was not playing well.

He wasn’t seeing the field well. He was bailing from clean pockets. He was sailing balls high and missing open receivers. The Browns need to make a decision on Mayfield’s fifth-year option by May of 2021, and Mayfield’s first six games were making that decision an easy no.

The first quarter of Cleveland’s Week 7 game went about as poorly as possible for Mayfield. His first attempt of the game was badly underthrown to Odell Beckahm Jr., who tore his ACL attempting to make the tackle on the interception return. All five of Mayfield’s attempts in that quarter fell incomplete.

Mayfield is showing improvement

After that disastrous first quarter, Mayfield then played the best three quarters of his football career. He completed 21 consecutive passes, a streak broken only by a spike on the final drive of the game. He outdueled Joe Burrow, throwing for 297 yards and five touchdowns, including a perfectly-placed game-winner to Donovan Peoples-Jones.

He was dominant at a level he’d never shown in the NFL, or even during his legendary college career. Expecting him to repeat that amazing performance was always unfair, but against a weak Las Vegas Raiders defense in Week 8, he had an opportunity to put together two consecutive good performances, something he hadn’t done in a while.

The Browns failed to score a touchdown, losing 16-6 in gusty and rainy weather. Mayfield finished 12-25 for 122 yards. Basic stats would tell you he played poorly, but that was far from the case. Seven of his passes were dropped, including a touchdown to Jarvis Landry and another pass to Landry that would have moved the chains in Las Vegas territory.

Mayfield’s completion percentage of 48 percent is ugly; but his adjusted completion percentage is a much better 70.8 percent. Mayfield wasn’t perfect, but considering the circumstances, he played well. Aside from his first throw of the game, he was accurate. He made good decisions, taking care of the ball. He maneuvered the pocket well, and it also helped that the Raiders were unable to get any pressure on him.

Mayfield was not the reason the Browns lost, and he put them in positions where, had the other players executed, Cleveland would have won the game. It was absolutely a good performance for Mayfield, and that’s encouraging.

So for a season grade, Mayfield gets a solid B right now. There’s still plenty of time for him to improve and earn that A he’s seeking. If he does that, he’ll have earned his fifth-year option, and Browns fans likely won’t have to worry about another QB search this offseason or next.

Things didn’t start out well, but Baker Mayfield has shown improvement over the past two weeks. Now, he’ll have two weeks to prepare to face the Houston Texans and make it three good games in a row.