Baker Mayfield, Patrick Mahomes rivalry goes way back

Two Texas gunslingers are at it again as  Baker Mayfield and the Cleveland Browns take on Kansas City.

When Baker Mayfield of the Cleveland Browns and Patrick Mahomes of the Kansas City Chiefs square off yet again on Sunday, it will mark another chapter in a long rivalry. The two quarterbacks have known each other since high school.

Mayfield famously walked on to Texas Tech and became the starting quarterback as a freshman in 2013, leading the team to an 8-5 record, the only time Kingsbury has ever finished three games over .500 in his illustrious coaching career.

Mayfield hosted Mahomes’ visit to Texas Tech when Kliff Kingsbury was recruiting Mahomes to come to Texas Tech. That was a bit of an odd choice. We can only wonder what the coach was thinking? Kingsbury, a proponent of the fabulous Air Raid offense at Texas Tech, managed to go 35-40 with Baker Mayfield, Patrick Mahomes, and Kyler Murray as his quarterbacks.

There was a falling out between Mayfield and Kingsbury after the 2013 season. Mayfield claimed that Kingsbury wouldn’t offer him a scholarship. Kingsbury says that’s not true. However, to this writer’s knowledge, no one has ever heard Mayfield say that he would be happy to have a Texas Tech scholarship to be the backup to Patrick Mahomes, so the point may be moot.

So it probably worked out well for everyone except Kingsbury, whose best season with Mahomes was 7-6 in 2015. His overall college record, as mentioned previously, was 35-40, which must be some kind of record for the lowest winning percentage in history at the college level for a coach to graduate to the NFL.

At least, he was very good at teaching quarterbacks to clap their hands. Just a supremely talented coach all the way around, we must assume.

Perhaps Kingsbury’s intention was that skinny little Mayfield should accept a scholarship from an FCS school more suitable for his stature. Instead, off went Baker to….Oklahoma? Two-time walk-on Mayfield became the starting quarterback at Oklahoma, and Mayfield and Mahomes faced each twice in Big 12 Conference play.

In 2015 it was Oklahoma 63, Texas Tech 27. Both quarterbacks actually had rather modest performances, throwing for fewer than 300 yards each.

2016 featured just a tad more offense with Mayfield going 27 for 36 for 545 yards and seven touchdowns! Not to be outdone, Mahomes went 52 for 88 for a mind-boggling 734 yards with 5 touchdowns and also added 85 rushing yards and two touchdowns on the ground. An entire chapter to the NCAA football record book was added as a consequence of that game. The Sooners outlasted the Red Raiders, 66-59.

No one is exactly sure who proved what to whom, but it was certainly an entertaining game. Let’s just say that Texas high school quarterbacks were well represented, but both defenses might have needed a few adjustments. You can understand why some critics are hesitant about drafting quarterbacks from this crazy conference. How much of this can you actually believe?

To answer that question, we should ask John Dorsey, who drafted both quarterbacks. Mahomes was drafted in 2017 by Dorsey, who at the time was the general manager of the Kansas City Chiefs. The Chiefs were not thrilled by his apparently foolish investment in the kid gunslinger.

Kansas City gave up the 27th pick in the 2017 NFL Draft plus the third-round pick and a first-round pick in 2018. The problem was the Chiefs already had Alex Smith, who was a Pro Bowl quarterback, and only 33 years old, which is not that old for a quarterback.

Why would any team give up two first-round picks and a number three for a second-string quarterback, particularly a system quarterback like Mahomes with no experience in a Pro-style offense? Many Kansas City fans, including chairman Clark Hunt, weren’t happy with their quarterback-happy general manager.

Dorsey had also been criticized for signing Nick Foles, who later became Super Bowl MVP; and trading for Smith, though he was forgiven for that after Smith made the Pro Bowl.

Plus, Dorsey wasn’t very good at managing the salary cap. To make a long story short, this criticism was perfectly valid, as he managed to overspend the cap in Cleveland as well.

Hence Dorsey was shown the door in Kansas City.

Meanwhile, Cleveland’s Sashi Brown was methodically accumulating salary cap dollars and draft picks, trading away talented players in order to qualify for a high draft pick for 2018. He even cut Joe Haden, who wound up signing with the Pittsburgh Steelers to help Brown reach his goal by beating the Browns twice in 2017.

Jimmy Haslam III finally had enough and hired Dorsey to replace Brown. Baker Mayfield was drafted first overall and quickly became the Browns starter in 2018. At the same time, in KC, the Chiefs brass decided that Dorsey had made the right decision in drafting Mahomes, and star quarterback Alex Smith was traded to Washington.

That was a trade that would have benefitted both teams had Smith stayed healthy. Smith was and is and will always be a true warrior.

Kansas City visited the Browns on November November 4, 2018, and Mahomes finally got the better of Mayfield as the Chiefs won 37-21. Mahomes threw for 375 yards and three touchdowns, while Mayfield threw for 297 yards and two touchdowns.

The teams did not meet again until the playoff game in 2021. Mayfield was 22 for 37 for 204 yards and two TDs, while Mahomes was 21 for 30 for 255 yards. Cleveland fans are still upset about the non-call when Rashard Higgins was hit helmet-to-helmet to negate a reaching touchdown at the goal line. Plus the fumble-out-of-bounds rule needs to be changed, but everybody knew what the rules were going in.

The two quarterbacks are rivals but have remained friendly to one another throughout their careers. Mayfield is not a fan of Kliff Kingsbury but is careful not to take out his frustrations on Mahomes, who he regards as a genuinely talented fellow competitor. Sunday’s game should be another outstanding installment in a running battle that has been going on since 2015.