3 Reasons the Cleveland Browns shouldn’t extend Baker Mayfield
By Greg Newland
Baker Mayfield has not had his best season with the Cleveland Browns in 2021. Andrew Berry should wait to even consider an extension.
Even if the Cleveland Browns find a way to win four of their last five games of 2021, I’m not sure it will be enough to get them in the playoffs. They have a difficult schedule and the AFC continues to be packed with talent.
At just 6-6 heading into the bye week, this season has been disappointing for more than a few reasons. One, injuries continue to be a nightmare. The offensive tackles have missed a ton of time, Kareem Hunt and Nick Chubb have both missed multiple games, and multiple injuries on the defense as well.
Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah and Anthony Walker have both been on injured reserved, while Denzel Ward, Greg Newsome, and Troy Hill have also all missed a substantial amount of game time. Injuries are a part of the league, but it feels like the Cleveland Browns are always punished.
Two, the defense has been nowhere near as good as expected. They did play well against the Ravens last week but have given up 37-plus points on three different occasions. They are typically world-beaters on first and second down but can’t get a stop on third down no matter how far the yardage to gain may be.
Last, but certainly not least, the offense has continued to struggle. At times the running game has been bottled up, the offensive line has given up a lot of pressure, we have seen a lot of drops, and Baker Mayfield has just not been accurate at times.
The big question is, how healthy is Mayfield? I know he is fighting through injuries and I know he is tough as nails, but at this point, I’m just not sold he is the future guy. A long-term extension the team can’t get out of could sit the organization back another 10 years.
Below are three reasons Andrew Berry should consider not signing Mayfield to an extension in the next year.