Baker Mayfield, Jarvis Landry back: Odds say Bah Humbug

The Browns are getting Baker Mayfield and Jarvis Landry back versus the Packers, but the oddsmakers don’t care.

The Cleveland Browns received a Christmas present in the form of qbs Baker Mayfield and Case Keenum; wideout Jarvis Landry; defensive back A.J. Green and defensive end Ifeadi Odenigbo all clearing Covid protocols for the Packers game at Lambeau today at 4:30 PM EST, but the betting community is not impressed.

The smartest football fans in the world are found in the betting community, and according to Betsided.com, those fab five players are worth about one half a point to the good. As of 12:00 noon, WynnBET’s Week 16 NFL odds have Cleveland at 7.0 point underdog instead of 7.5 points without Mayfield et al the previous day.

How do we interpret that? Well, it’s inescapable that the oddsmakers believe that third string Nick Mullens is about the same value as Baker Mayfield. Perhaps Mullens is rather good, or Mayfield is rather bad. You can choose either interpretation.

So far the Browns have not chosen to protect Mullens with a permanent roster spot. If they return him to the practice squad, he could be pilfered by some other team in need of a quarterback.

Cleveland also brought in Kyle Lauletta that way. It also happened in Washington recently where they lost all their quarterbacks to covid and had to grab veteran Garrett Gilbert from the New England practice squad, and started him with three days of preparation.

Right now, it’s a moot point because the Browns roster is so depleted that they can keep four roster spots filled with quarterbacks: Mayfield, Keenum, and Kyle Lauletta are on the 53 player roster, and Mullens has a temporary spot due to Covid-19. Lauletta must be kept for one more game.

Nevertheless, Mayfield is not much better than Mullens right now. This writer believes he has not been the same since the second week of the season.

What has changed?

We probably need to examine his record before and after tearning up his left shoulder. He is now throwing with what amounts to a strait jacket. Yes, he can throw. No, he cannot throw with the same accuracy and touch and throwing motion.

While admiring his tenacity, tolerance for pain and overall competitiveness, he is not able to help the Browns win games the way he did before the injury, in this observer’s opinion. We’ll find out if he has enough in the tank to win a big game against the Packers.

In addition to those five roster changes, there were several changes made since last week. The Browns website lists the following moves:

P Jamie Gillan has been waived.

DE Takkarist McKinley (Achilles) is on IR.

DE Porter Gustin is on the 53 player roster.

Coming off Covid are: T James Hudson III, S Grant Delpit, LB Jacob Phillips, TE Austin Hooper.

Due to Covid 19, temporary elevations to the active roster have been created for (some of these players were also active last week): DE Curtis Weaver, K Chris Naggar, CB Herb Miller, S Jovante Moffatt, G Hjalte Froholdt, DE Joe Jackson, S Adrian Colbert.

Going on the Covid list are DT Jordan Elliott, K Chase McLaughlin, C JC Tretter, CB Greg Newsome II.

The injury list shows S John Johnson (hamstring) OUT; DE Myles Garrett (groin), DT Malik Jackson (knee) QUESTIONABLE. Garrett looked very much in pain versus the Raiders.

Let’s hope for a miraculous recovery, but we need to see a lot of Joe Jackson and Porter Gustin, both of whom looked pretty good against the Raiders, by the way.