Cleveland Browns: 5 players who will break out in 2021

4. QB Baker Mayfield

It may be unfair to label Baker Mayfield as a breakout candidate given he already broke out in 2020, but he still doesn’t the respect he deserves from the national media.

Mayfield was at best inconsistent and often downright bad over his first six games, but from weeks 7 to 12, he showed improvement. The inconsistencies were still there, but so were the high-level flashes, and for the most part, he wasn’t actively hurting the team.

From Week 13 on, he played as well as any other passer in the NFL. Disregarding the Week 16 debacle without his wide receivers, Mayfield was Pro Football Focus’s top-graded QB after Week 7.

Since college, Mayfield has always been a streaky player, though his good streaks are really, really good. He needs to prove his great second half of 2020 wasn’t just an abnormally long streak, but all indications are that he’ll do just that.

For the first time in his pro career, he won’t be learning a new offensive system over the offseason. A greater command of the scheme combined with the addition of Odell Beckham Jr. and Anthony Schwartz should allow the offense to continue evolving to make Mayfield the best he can be. And when that happens, the rest of the league will have no choice but to take notice.