Five amazingly stupid myths about the Cleveland Browns

Cleveland Browns Myth No. 2: Baker Mayfield is not good enough and should not be extended

The vast majority of fans love Baker Mayfield, rightly so. There is a vocal minority, however, that is brain dead and cannot tell the difference between Mayfield and Cody Kessler. No offense to Kessler, who played his heart out for our team, but Mayfield is way better. Some fans think that the Browns should wait for a mythical “Franchise Quarterback,” whatever that is, to come along.

“Baker is not as good as Lamar, Baker is not as good as Allen, not as good as Mahomes,” blah, blah, blah. You know what? That might be true. But Baker Mayfield by far the best quarterback for the Cleveland Browns, not some hypothetical team.

It has taken three seasons of hard knocks to get to the position he is in now. Some other quarterback is not going to come in and be the same. Conversely, if Mayfield moves to some last place team and signs a bazillion dollar contract he would not be the same player. It is just a bad idea for both sides.

Wise critics are quick to point out that John Dorsey messed up when he drafted Baker Mayfield and should have drafted either Josh Allen or Lamar Jackson. That’s debatable, but suppose the critics are right.

So what? Did the Browns get a guarantee that allows them to exchange Mayfield for Allen or Jackson? It doesn’t look like the Bills or Ravens are going to let Cleveland have a do-over, so you might as well get over second guessing Dorsey’s choice. Baker Mayfield is Cleveland’s quarterback.

If Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson get higher paychecks than Mayfield, good for them. They earned them by making the Pro Bowl. Jackson was also league MVP and is the winningest quarterback for his age in NFL history. Their great success has nothing to do with firing the quarterback of the Cleveland Browns.

The only options that the Browns have in front of them are Mayfield, Case Keenum and Kyle Lauletta.

Mayfield can lead the team to the Super Bowl, but you are going to have to get him some help. You need guys who have been to Pro Bowls, or close to it. But the Browns have that:

Kareem Hunt (1x), Nick Chubb (1x), Joel Bitonio (2x), Jack Conklin (2x All Pro), Jarvis Landry (5x), Odell Beckham, Jr. (3x), and Austin Hooper (2x). Guard Wyatt Teller is ranked number one at his position, according to Pro Football Focus, which is an equivalent honor.

Center J.C. Tretter was ranked number two, by the way. There may be an unwritten rule that the NFLPA President is not supposed to be selected for the Pro Bowl; otherwise, it’s hard to imagine what prevents J.C. from going to Hawaii. As for Jedrick Wills, he was the first tackle drafted in the 2020 draft class and is still growing in his craft.

He was by far the weakest player on the Cleveland line last season, and he might be the best player on some NFL lines. For example, is there anyone on the Bengals line that you would trade Wills for, even up? Think about that.

Let’s add that up. That’s nine players who have either been to the Pro Bowl or who are very close to that level of play. The quarterback had an 11:1 TD:INT ratio the second half of the season. The team should have beat the World Champions were it not for a criminally absurd missed call at the goal line.

And some fans want to fire the leader of the offense.

There has never been talent like this on the roster before. Dare it be said, Cody Kessler would legitimately have a chance to win with this level of talent. The game plan would be run, run, run, run, play-action, run, run, run and that would score points.

Sometimes you may see Mayfield run that same sequence, and there really is no need to apologize for it. The critics are going to point accusing fingers and cry “game manager!” like it is an insult, and gag in their beer. They want the coaching staff to install the New Orleans artificial turf dome offense. Well, they are just never going to be happy.

Chris Simms is about as good a quarterback evaluator out there, and he says that, for a neutral team, Baker Mayfield would be the 13th best quarterback in the NFL. It is understandable if you don’t want to vote Mayfield into the Hall of Fame just yet, but why isn’t that good enough to start?

The Browns will make Mayfield a fair offer on a multi-year deal. It will not be a blank check for his agent to fill out any way he wants, however. It will be for less money than Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson, both of whom have more hardware in their trophy cases than Mayfield.

The Browns need to be able to afford all those star linemen and running backs. Thus, I will be very disappointed if Andrew Berry and the Haslams cave and give him the same insane money that Patrick Mahomes and Dak Prescott are getting. In fact, in the case of Prescott, Team Jones badly miscalculated by allowing him to get into the Franchise Tag system. The perception is that the Franchise Tag favors management, but the reality is that it gives huge leverage to the player.