4 Cleveland Browns-centric celebrations on 4th of July

1. The Cleveland Browns have a quarterback

One thing that was true for nearly 20 years was the fact that the Browns simply didn’t have a quarterback to believe in. Since returning to the NFL in 1999, they went from one signal-caller to another in search of their franchise quarterback.

Then in 2018, John Dorsey made his best move as the general manager of the Browns when he took Baker Mayfield out of Oklahoma with the first overall pick. This was seen as a shock since most experts felt Sam Darnold from USC should be the guy, but with Darnold already on his second team, it’s now clear that Baker was the correct choice.

Sure, some will argue that Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson have been better but that’s short-sighted. Each of those quarterbacks has had stable leadership in their organizations with the same coach, general manager, and for the most part, support staff and assistant coaches.

As for Mayfield, he’s just now entering his second season with the same head coach as the previous year. Before this, he had two different head coaches in his rookie season and two different offensive coordinators. Then, he had to learn a new system when Freddie Kitchens took over as head coach and brought in Todd Monken as the offensive coordinator.

Stefanski and offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt were his newest coaches in 2020 and he had to get comfortable with them over Zoom due to COVID. This led to a slow start but then when the light bulb went off, so did No. 6.

Now entering 2021, the Browns have all the faith in the world in Mayfield who nearly led them to the AFC Championship Game last season. They’re even discussing a new deal behind the scenes in hopes of getting him locked up for the foreseeable future.

For a franchise that’s been so starved at the position, Mayfield gives them a reason to celebrate.