Nick Mullens may be Cleveland Browns quarterback of the future

Nick Mullens may be good enough to win in the NFL and he is entering his prime years as an athlete. Should he be the Cleveland Browns quarterback of the future?

The Cleveland Browns have two established quarterbacks in Baker Mayfield and Case Keenum who will be kept in Cleveland for at least 2022 and probably beyond. But they should also give some consideration to developing a quarterback who is capable of starting by 2023.

So far, under general manager Andrew Berry, the Browns have not kept three quarterbacks, either because they prefer to keep two or they just have not found the third-string player who they believe in. Realistically, however, the team needs an alternative in case the team cannot or chooses not to go forward with Baker Mayfield after next year’s fifth-year option.

Here’s what teams should not do, but what the Browns tried to do over and over again from 1999 to 2018: draft a quarterback and expect immediate results. It would be very presumptuous to draft a quarterback in the 2022 draft and expect that quarterback to replace Case Keenum, never mind Mayfield.

Keenum will be entering his third year with the Browns next season. The past two years’ worth of practice reps and studying the playbook make him much more valuable to the Browns than a potential replacement. In other words, he has been developed into a decent quarterback.

If he’s cut loose and winds up signing with, say, the New York Jets, he might not help them very much. Replacing Keenum with a rookie draft pick would save money on the salary cap, but would not likely not be a positive addition to the team in his first year, at least.

More quarterbacks are not overnight sensations as rookies, but instead, have to be developed a period of about three or four years. Even Patrick Mahomes sat and watched for the better part of a year behind Alex Smith. The team has to get the right guy and work with him year by year while they build a team.

In the case of the Browns, they are going to be a ball-control, run-first offense, and they need a quarterback who can play like, well, Alex Smith. If Cleveland drafts a quarterback in 2022, getting him ready for 2023 is actually on the early side. So is Nick Mullens good enough to be that guy and develop into a top-15 NFL quarterback by 2023?

What do the Cleveland Browns have in Nick Mullens?

To answer that question, DPD interviewed software engineer Carl Wallace of Oswego, NY, a former sports statistician at West Virginia University and lifelong 49ers fan. If there is one person who has had time to assess Mullens’ skill set for the job, it would be Wallace.

Wallace gave Mullens a lukewarm endorsement. “He is definitely a competent quarterback….He does complete a high percentage of his passes – if he can lower the interception count that he had in SF, he could certainly be a good game manager for some NFL team.”

Wallace added, “Mullens’ record as a 49ers starter is 5-11, starting 8 games each in 2018 and 2020. The other 49ers’ quarterbacks in those two seasons? Also 5-11. The team as a whole was just not very good, and Mullens seemed to maintain the status quo.”

In 2020, Garoppolo and C.J. Beathard combined for a 4-4 mark, while Mullens went 2-6. There were two games in which both Garoppolo and Mullens played. Versus the Jets, Jimmy G was red hot, going 14 for 16 for 131 yards and two TDs. After being injured, Mullens came in and was 8 for 11 for 71 yards but threw a pick.

Later that season, Jimmy G was injured versus Seattle after going 11 for 16 for 84 yards, no TDs, and one INT. Mullens replaced him and went 18 for 25 for 238 yards, two TDs, and zero INTs. It’s a small data sample, but Mullens was probably a little better overall than Jimmy G.

The eyeball test says that Jimmy G throws a better spiral and consequently his deep ball is probably more accurate. Consequently, Wallace is probably right that Mullens fits the “game manager” mold more so than the “mad bomber” type. But Mullens can play.

San Francisco is one of the most quarterback-paranoid teams in the NFL. Even though they are contenders this season, they are getting ready to cut ties with Garoppolo, having traded three first-round draft picks to move up for untested rookie Trey Lance, who scarcely played in college. Getting axed by the 49ers is not necessarily a disgrace.

The backup quarterback is not some guy who holds a clipboard. He’s supposed to be able to actually win in the NFL. If called upon to replace the starting quarterback, he may not set the league on fire, but he needs to be able to post reasonable numbers and lead the offense.

Nick Mullens is so not an instant fix. The Browns have already guaranteed Baker Mayfield’s $18.9 million dollar option for next season, and let’s not even think about him replacing Case Keenum in 2022. But if they can see him becoming a game manager guy who might be called upon in 2023 or 2024, they should carve out a roster spot for a third quarterback in 2022.

Quarterback is the most important position in today’s NFL and it makes sense to always be developing a young quarterback, even if the team believes it has two good ones already, as is the case now.

They especially need to figure out that Covid is not going away and it’s time to quit being shocked by it and simply prepare to deal with these emergency situations in the future. Three quarterbacks on the Cleveland Browns 53-player roster makes more sense than two.