Browns: It’s reasonable to be optimistic about Baker Mayfield’s second half

Baker Mayfield’s been pretty competent for the Cleveland Browns thus far

He hasn’t blown any doors off to this point in 2020, but Cleveland Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield has had his moments. While he had objectively awful outings at the Baltimore Ravens and at the Pittsburgh Steelers, there’s been largely positive stretches/and games, to some extent, for Mayfield otherwise.

Mayfield’s last Week 8 performance against the visiting Las Vegas Raiders this past Sunday, in the basic box score sense, looked horrendous.

When looking at that, the leger said he was 12-of-25 for 122 yards, and the Browns, meanwhile, had six points as a team.

But Mayfield, frankly, delivered balls consistently on-time and on-target, and unfortunately for his sake/the offenses’, the Browns, who no longer have Odell Beckham Jr. in the fold due to injury, led the league in drop percentage that week, per Pro Football Focus.

That was with a drop rate of 20.0 percent, and that, and the defense getting ran all over by Vegas didn’t help Mayfield’s cause. Again, though, he did his part.

In terms of other encouraging signs, we all will look back on Mayfield’s performance the week prior at the Cincinnati Bengals as one of his signature moments of this season. It was Cincinnati’s, well lack of, pass rush, but five touchdowns is five touchdowns, and Mayfield was so clutch in that game.

His Week 2 outing versus Cincinnati was an impressive one, too, and though the games weren’t particularly noteworthy, Mayfield hit his share of big throws to play into winning versus the Washington Football Team and against the Indianapolis Colts.

All in all, it’s evident that Cleveland’s run game is how their proverbial bread gets buttered to get W’s often, but Mayfield’s done his part, too. And looking at the back half of the season, it’s reasonable to be optimistic about the Browns signal-caller.

Things are looking up for Mayfield for the Cleveland Browns

Mayfield, to drive it home further, isn’t going to be setting any records or vying for any individual awards in 2020. Him having 1,514 yards on a 61.4 percent completion percentage and averaging 189.3 yards per contest thus far illustrates that.

And Mayfield having seven interceptions in 2020, and with them seeming to come in bunches for him through his near-2.5 seasons to this point is not the best thing in the world. But from my perspective, it’s reasonable to be optimistic about Mayfield’s second half, and a QBR of 71.2 is a key positive for him.

For one, he’s made his share of key throws throughout most of the Browns’ wins. Another thing relating to that is the reinstallation of key pieces to Cleveland’s offense.

Austin Hooper is reportedly “definitely” back after the bye after missing Cleveland’s past two games due to an emergency appendectomy, and he and Mayfield have connected well. That’s even via tight-window throws, as shown per PFF, not including Week 8.

It’d seem that Wyatt Teller and Nick Chubb both could be back pretty soon for the Browns, too. As a result, Cleveland’s running game could again go to being supercharged, which was the case pre-Chubb going down with a meniscus tear in Week 4 at the Dallas Cowboys.

Taking that into consideration, the intermediate passing game for Mayfield could again be particularly effective, and this stat shown by PFF shows how efficient Mayfield’s been, regardless, in the red zone. This is a really positive sign for what’s to come for Mayfield in the second half as well, in relating to Chubb’s gravity as a runner in that area/how throws should open up for him to Hooper, Rashard Higgins, and to some extent, Kareem Hunt, David Njoku, and Harrison Bryant.

Looking at the schedule ahead, Mayfield and Cleveland have very winnable games versus the Houston Texans, Philadelphia Eagles, and Jacksonville Jaguars. And though it’ll be tough, the Tennessee Titans, the matchup from there, have been worked by opposing passers.

Granted, Baltimore and Pittsburgh at home are no easy matchups for Mayfield and company, for obvious reasons, but the Browns and head coach Kevin Stefanski could be much better prepared, feasibly, which could change things. Either way, a subway-type set of back-to-back matchups at the New York Giants and Jets should only aid Mayfield’s confidence, anyhow, and could be big days.

Okay, so regarding the elephant in the room, if you will: Is Mayfield the guy, and should the Browns eventually give him that second contract?

One can’t say definitively at this juncture, but the Browns will have more time to evaluate Mayfield. And with the growth he’s shown, which is tangible with Mayfield improving with high-level offensive line play, of which DPD’s Grant Puskar hit on, and having a solid 15 touchdowns thus far, he could potentially be the long-term answer.

So, currently, my answer isn’t an absolute for you, sorry about that. Albeit Mayfield is improving and factoring into winning for Cleveland, whether or not media personalities nationally want to give him that gratification.

If he keeps steadily improving, and the Browns make the postseason, which seems to be a good possibility, his outlook in coming years with Stefanski at the helm to help, too, would appear to be a very encouraging one. Moreover, it’s reasonable to be optimistic about Mayfield’s second half of 2020.