4 reasons Baker Mayfield has seen his numbers go down

The Browns are still adjusting to the OBJ 2.0 era

There’s no polite way to say this, but the Browns have put up weird statistics since simultaneously losing Jarvis Landry and installing Odell Beckham, Jr. in the starting lineup. It doesn’t seem possible that the wide receiver can force the coach or the quarterback to target him, so please let’s not blame OBJ for this but nevertheless let’s lay out some weird stats for you.

First, in the Bears game the Browns targeted OBJ nine times. The other three wide receivers were targeted a total of only five times. That’s weird.

Second, in the Vikings game, the Browns calmed down and targeted OBJ only seven times, compared to eight for other wide receivers (but zero for Donovan Peoples-Jones). However, the average pass to OBJ was 22.9 yards, indicating that either the coaching staff or Mayfield seem to be fascinated with the deep ball to OBJ. It was not there to the extent that they thought.

A third weird stat is that the Browns wouldn’t throw the ball to Donovan Peoples-Jones. Perhaps he has an injured hand or something and they want to use him as a decoy? In any case, he played most of the game versus Minnesota with zero targets after having only two targets against Chicago.

It’s unlikely that there is a conspiracy to give Mayfield bad stats by trying out these bad strategies on him. The coaching staff has the best of intentions; namely, to create opportunities for the players to be successful. Specifically, everyone wants to see OBJ make a strong comeback after an ACL injury and they are highly motivated to make that happen.

Maybe they are too highly motivated.

If so, this is something that will become apparent when they review the film this week, and they will very likely get it corrected.