Cleveland Browns: Surprises and Disappointments at the Midseason point
By Sam Penix
Baker Mayfield
Before the torches and pitchforks come out, just listen. Baker Mayfield has been much better over the past two games. His five-touchdown performance against Cincy was magnificent; definitely the best game he’s played as a pro. But before that, his future was looking very muddy, and two good games aren’t enough to completely turn that around.
Mayfield looked fantastic as a rookie, setting the NFL record for most rookie touchdown passes despite starting only 13 games. He was extremely accurate, and given his performance with Freddie Kitchens as his OC over the latter half of the campaign, there were massive expectations for Mayfield going into year two.
We all know how that went. He threw 22 scores and 21 picks, as the Browns lost 10 games, often shooting themselves in the foot during games they should have won. If not for turnovers on three consecutive plays and atrocious coaching decisions against the New England Patriots, Cleveland would have beaten the most dominant defense in recent history.
Mayfield wasn’t bad in 2019, but he definitely took a step backward from where he was as a rookie. His elite accuracy was inconsistent, he didn’t trust his offensive line, bailing from clean pockets, and struggled to diagnose coverages.
For the first six games of 2020, those issues were still prevalent. There were flashes of great play, like his first half against the Indianapolis Colts, but his shoddy accuracy remained, and threw some bad interceptions. All his issues were compounded against the Pittsburgh Steelers, the worst game of his career.
The first quarter of Week 7 was just as bad, but since then, he’s improved significantly. He’s been accurate and decisive, and his pocket presence has been much better. It’s been a long time since he’s had two straight games of good play, but he’s done that over the past two weeks.
Now he needs to continue to improve so that the Browns can feel good about picking up his fifth-year option. Mayfield could easily end up as a pleasant surprise at year’s end, but as of now, this season he has four games of meh tape, one of awful play, one of good, and one of elite. Consistency has been his issue in the NFL, and hopefully he finally shows it over these last eight games.