Baker Mayfield's Growth Since the Bye

The Cleveland Browns being 2-4 at the bye week wasn't unexpected given the difficulty of that part of the schedule, but how they were losing was, especially with the issues Baker Mayfield was having. Since the bye week, the Browns only have one win in three games, but Mayfield is playing far better football, displaying encouraging signs of growth.

Since the bye week, Baker Mayfield has been decidedly better than the first six weeks of the season. Given the results in those six games, that's not a difficult bar for him to clear, but the player that took Cleveland and the NFL by storm as a rookie is starting to come back in 2019. There are still areas where he has to continue to get better and with seven games remaining, there are plenty of opportunities for that to happen. He can hopefully maintain what he's doing well and add to it.

Against three of the best defenses in the NFL in the New England Patriots, Denver Broncos and Buffalo Bills, Mayfield protected the football and was far better at staying out of negative plays. He had one interception in the three games combined, which was the fluky shovel pass in the Patriots game. Mayfield has been holding onto the ball less, getting out of bad plays and living to play another down more. Not only does that avoid putting the team in a hole on the scoreboard, but he's also taking fewer hits as a result.

At some point every game, there is a drive where Mayfield looked great, able to go down the field with relative ease. The ball comes out quickly, decisively and accurately and there is a glimpse of what was expected from this offense on a regular basis. The movement in the pocket is improving, he's maintaining better eye discipline, showing the ability to extend plays without exposing himself and the ball. Particularly against the Bills, his mechanics were better, which led to the accuracy he had become known for last year. He wasn't missing passes like he had been earlier in the year.

His completion percentage the last three games is 65.7 percent compared to 56.5 the first six. Four touchdown passes and one interception compared to five touchdowns and eleven interceptions. His yards per attempt is actually down, which is one of the areas where he can improve the remaining seven games.

From recognizing what defenses are doing in certain situations so he can make better protection calls to being able to better exploit opportunities defenses are giving him, Mayfield can go from managing the game at times to taking control. He keeps providing glimpses, which are encouraging, but there are spots in games where the offense will stall that can get better.

What looked to have the potential to be a lost season is starting to show some signs of growth. Mayfield and the offense have to keep going, keep improving since they haven't scored even 20 the last three games, but the improvement is important and hopefully leads to more output on the scoreboard. The opportunity for the playoffs might be on life support, but having Mayfield make significant strides at quarterback is critical for the team's viability for the future.