Why the Cleveland Browns QB situation is best in the AFC North

The AFC North has two first overall picks, an MVP and a future Hall of Famer — but the Cleveland Browns are in better shape under center than everyone in the division

Although all four teams in the AFC North have excellent situations at the quarterback position this season, the Cleveland Browns edge their AFC North rival Pittsburgh Steelers, Baltimore Ravens and Cincinnati Bengals. The AFC North may be the roughest division in football this season, and it should shock no one if they send three teams into the playoffs again this season or at least produce three teams with records over .500.

Truthfully, there’s not much separation between the quarterbacking among the four teams. You can choose between a player with two Super Bowl rings who is headed for the Hall of Fame when he hangs up his cleats; the 2019 NFL Most Valuable Player, and two players who went first overall in the NFL Draft, deservedly so.

Even in Cleveland, some fans for whatever reason love to rip Baker Mayfield and cry that he has not proven himself. These are the same arguments that the Egyptian Pharaoh used to recite: “Well, Moses, you’ve sent hordes of frogs, lice, flies, plagues, and hail, but we just have not seen the hordes of locusts that we need to see in order to call you a Franchise Prophet. ”

Johnny Manziel alone was the equivalent of six Biblical plagues. How many more signs do Cleveland Browns fans actually need? Plus we had Josh Gordon and Justin Gilbert. And some fans want to turn away from Mayfield?

This disease is not unique to Mayfield. Sports Illustrated sportswriter and NFL Network sportscaster Bucky Brooks suggested that the Ravens should move up in the draft for Justin Fields on the grounds that he can run the same offense as Jackson. Not many people thought that was a great idea, however, because we got to see what they could do in the last six games of 2020 when Burrow went down. It was not pretty. The Bengals fan base may not be enthralled with coach Zac Taylor, but they are one thousand percent loyal to Joe Burrow.

There is also a minority of Steeler fans that want Mason Rudolph to take over for Big Ben. That’s less crazy than some of the other preposterous talk, because Rudolph has talent and is in his fourth year. It might happen if the Steelers go under .500.

There’s no talk of a palace coup in Cincinnati, however, where the alternatives to Joe Burrow have been, well, less than satisfactory.

One of the key factors in evaluating the quarterbacks is turnovers. Baker Mayfield has been criticized for that in the past. Let’s take a deep dive into that on the next page.
This article kept on growing and growing until it became 7 pages long including this introduction. So buckle your chinstrap and get ready.

1 AFC North QB turnovers

2. AFC North QB accuracy

3 AFC North QB durability

4. AFC North QB arm strength

5. AFC North QB summary

6. What is a “Franchise Quarterback” anyway?

We’ll start by talking about turnovers. Which QB do you believe is the best at avoiding them?

1. AFC North QB turnovers

One of the major considerations of quarterbacks is turnovers, which is related to accuracy but not the same thing. Both are also related to how good your wide receivers are. Mayfield threw too many in 2019, 21 picks in 3,827 yards, or a pick every 182 yards.

In the Stefanski offense, he cut down his total from 21 to only eight. Seven of those picks were thrown in the first half of the season and only one was thrown in the last half of the season. Yards/INT was 217 in the first eight games.

Overall for the year he was 445.4 yards per INT but he posted an incredible 2049 Yds/INT in the second half of the season. If you are willing to accept the premise that the quarterback improves as he learns how to perform in a new offense, you should have no difficulty accepting the premise that he legitimately improved. The difference between the Stefanski offense and Air Freddie was not a fluke.

Joe Burrow, despite his inexperience, threw only five INTs versus 2,688 passing yards, or 537.6 Yds/INT. That’s also truly phenomenal for a rookie and the prediction here is that he will continue to be among the NFL leaders in low interception rate..

The Ohio kids are the best at avoiding interceptions, not the worst, despite what you may have been told by your smug friends in Pennsylvania and Maryland, though their quarterbacks also receive very good grades.

Roethlisberger threw 10 picks in a 3,803-yard season (i.e., 380.3 yards per INT) and would have had another 4,000-yard season had he played the last game. Instead, he sat out to prepare for the playoffs.

Jackson threw only nine picks but had fewer passing yards, 2,757 to be precise. Jackson put the ball on the ground a few extra times, which is to be expected, since he was busy lugging the pigskin.

In 2020 he coughed it up 10 times ; Joe Burrow nine, Mayfield eight, Roethlisberger only five. But You also have to consider that Baltimore as a team rushed the ball 555 times (25 fumbles), Cleveland 495 times (23 fumbles), Bengals 411 times (20 fumbles) and Steelers an impossible-to-believe 373 times (22 fumbles). Total turnovers, including backups, are thus Cleveland and the Bengals tied with 31, Steelers 33 and Baltimore 36.

Mayfield was trending towards the lowest in interceptions in the second half of the season with only one, though Roethlisberger actually turned in the most consistent performance with five for the entire year. Jackson turned the ball over a little more on the ground but he also generated more offense.

It’s very clear that the kids from Ohio were the best at avoiding turnovers.

Accuracy is related to turnovers but not really the same thing, as discussed on the next page.