Baker Mayfield snubbed by 2021 ESPN Quarterback Council

Where does ESPN think Cleveland Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield stacks up against the rest of the NFL’s quarterbacks?

The regular season is rapidly approaching and that means we’re one day closer to a historic NFL season. Going into the year with 17 games, every quarterback is under a microscope that’s larger than normal. ESPN brought together a panel of NFL analysts and ranked the top 10 quarterbacks based on various aspects of the game.

The analyst panel consisting of Booger McFarland, Matt Bowen, Louis Riddick, Tim Hasselbeck, Mina Kimes, Seth Walder, Field Yates, Mike Tannebaum, PFF’s Sam Monson, and the duo of Aaron Schatz and Derrik Klassen from Football Outsiders, were tasked to rank the top 10 quarterbacks in the NFL by specific traits. They selected their top 10 quarterbacks for pure arm strength, accuracy, touch mechanics, field vision, decision making, compete level, toughness, in-the-pocket ability, scrambling, rushing, and second reaction.

Surprisingly enough, the Cleveland Browns and quarterback Baker Mayfield were not heavily represented on each of these lists. The final list that the panel selected for arm strength was the only one that featured Mayfield and he came in at No. 10 on the list. Mayfield was ranked behind the usual suspects, Mahomes, Allen, Rodgers, Stafford but was also ranked behind fellow Heisman winning Oklahoma quarterback, Kyler Murray, and Titans’ signal-caller Ryan Tannehill.

According to ESPN and NFL Next Gen Stats, the deep throw from Baker to Donovan Peoples-Jones at the end of the first half of the Week 14 Monday Night Football showdown was the farthest thrown pass in terms of true distance spanning across the last four seasons, postseasons included, at 68.1 air yards.

While Mayfield wasn’t snubbed from the list, him just squeaking into the top 10 seems a little disrespectful. He’s always had a cannon and he made the country well aware of that during his college days. In terms of the NFL, the lack of deep ball opportunities and the idea that “the Browns are the Browns” ideology is still alive and well has been killing him in terms of this list.

Mayfield didn’t crack the top 10 of any other category but received a vote in the accuracy category as well as touch, mechanics, field vision, decision making with the football, compete level, toughness, pocket presence, scrambling, and second reaction ability. The only category in which he didn’t receive a single vote was designed run ability.

The most shocking parts of this list were that Mayfield didn’t make the top 10 list for compete level which is determined in terms of pure competitiveness, leadership, desire, command, and clutchness.

If you look at the team he has helped build and the plays that he’s made with this Cleveland Browns team, anyone would see that he’s as competitive as any other player in the NFL. He also didn’t make the top 10 for toughness.

It’s hard to provide a valid argument as to a reason to snub Baker Mayfield from a list that’s all about toughness because that’s been the biggest quality that has allowed him to thrive at the collegiate and professional level.

Seemingly the only valid argument would be that he’s small and doesn’t take enough hits because his offensive line is too good, I guess.