Former NFL GM Mike Tannenbaum says Baker Mayfield not deserving of big extension

The Cleveland Browns should not prioritize a Baker Mayfield extension, says a former NFL general manager

Cleveland Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield is entering his fourth NFL season, and since he’s good, he is due for a contract extension. The exact timing of that deal remains to be seen, and could be impacted by new deals for Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson, among others.

Former New York Jets and Miami Dolphins executive Mike Tannebaum feels that Mayfield is not in that tier of players, and that the Browns should hold off on extending him for the time being. His reasoning for this take is…interesting.

Tannenbaum compares Mayfield to previous quarterbacks who have operated under Kevin Stefanski, using the fabled metrics of height, weight, 40-yard dash, record, and QBR. Tannebaum also harps on Cleveland’s usage of play action, and how Mayfield’s QBR rank changes based on PA.

The argument is that because Mayfield ranked second on PA dropbacks and 20th otherwise, and because he had the eighth-most PA dropbacks in the league, he’s basically effective only on play-action, which requires an effective run game to be properly set up. Tannebaum compares Mayfield to Case Keenum, who ranked fifth and 23rd in 2017, respectively.

Tannebaum implies that since other quarterbacks like Keenum and Kirk Cousins have had success with Stefanski in the building, that the coach could do just fine with another rookie instead of Mayfield, and the team would be better served spending money on a running back.

Never mind that Mayfield ranked ninth in PFF passing grade for the entire 2020 season, and first after Week 7, excluding the Week 16 game he played without his wide receivers. The analytics are promising, but the film is even better. As the season went on, Mayfield grew visibly more comfortable in the offense, and the little things he began doing on a week-to-week basis were incredibly encouraging. The more the Browns allowed him to do, the better the offense played, and that’s a trend that should continue.

It’s okay to succeed in play action. That’s not a bad thing, and Tannenbaum is just one of many who still parrot the talking point that Mayfield is good only with play action. Turning on the tape shows that to be categorically false.

Then again, if your argument is based on a metric that ranked Mitchell Trubisky as the third-best QB in 2018, and placed Aaron Rodgers behind Andy Dalton, Kirk Cousins, Carson Wentz, Jared Goff, Jameis Winston, Philip Rivers, and others, this outdated take isn’t all that surprising.

If Cleveland doesn’t extend Mayfield, they’ll need to solve the QB question somehow. Maybe the Browns should try trading up for Mark Sanchez instead.