NFL analyst believes Cleveland Browns should extend Baker Mayfield now
By Greg Newland
The Cleveland Browns head into year four of the Baker Mayfield experiment. So far it has been a rollercoaster ride.
As a rookie in 2018 Mayfield came into the game in Week 3 and won a primetime game vs. the New York Jets. He took the starting job from there and had a 6-7 record. While 6-7 is below average, it was far above anything a Cleveland quarterback had done in the last 10 seasons.
2019 started with a ton of hype as the Browns made a splashy trade for Olivier Vernon and Odell Beckham Jr. Not to mention they fired Hue Jackson and went with the inexperienced Freddie Kitchens. 2019 ended up being a colossal failure, and a season that started with playoff hopes ended in 6-10.
What Tim Hasselbeck of ESPN shared Monday morning, in the first year with a real head coach, look at what he was able to do. Not only did Mayfield lead the Browns to a 12-6 record, getting their first playoff win in 25 plus years, but Mayfield also improved every single week. His completion percentage of 62.8 to go with 3,563 yards, 26 touchdowns, and only 8 interceptions is so much better in just one year with Kevin Stefanski.
This shouldn’t be shocking to anyone, Stefanski did the exact same thing with Kirk Cousins in Minnesota. Cousins came in because Washington was prepared to let him walk. He won 25 regular-season games and completed nearly 70 percent of his passes each season.
Hasselbeck stressed that Mayfield is only going to get better in the next two years under Stefanski, so sign him now while the price is slightly better.
Mid-way through 2020 I was torn on if Mayfield was the guy, or if he was just an above-average quarterback that would always be good, but never great. But after Week 6, things really started to click for him. He had a couple of bad games statistically because of horrible weather vs. the Raiders, Texans, and Eagles, but if you take those out, his numbers were quite strong.
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Mayfield may not be Aaron Rodgers or Patrick Mahomes, but he has proven to be a very good quarterback and can accomplish all goals for the Cleveland Browns which includes winning a Super Bowl.