Honesty, Consistency, and Completeness Paramount in Discussing Baker Mayfield
The current discourse surrounding Baker Mayfield is filled with dishonesty, inconsistency, and reductionism.
The Cleveland Browns may be 3-1, but they are winning in spite of quarterback Baker Mayfield, not because of him. He's played quite poorly overall over the past three weeks, and while the Browns won all three games, this is the same situation the team was in for the first chunk of the 2020 campaign. Only this time, certain excuses don't apply to Mayfield.
He's no longer adjusting to a brand-new offensive system coming off the COVID-19 offseason. And he is attempting to follow up a brilliant stretch to close off 2020, where, after Week 6, he was as good as any other passer in the NFL, and was truly elite from Week 13 on.
He looked fantastic against the Kansas City Chiefs, but his performance has plummeted since then, and while the stats may not look terrible, the film shows a player who looks uncomfortable, inconsistent, and perhaps most importantly, injured.
An ill-advised throw against the Houston Texans led to an interception and Mayfield suffered a shoulder injury while attempting to make the tackle. It was his left (non-throwing) shoulder, but that doesn't mean it doesn't affect his throwing ability.
As much as Kevin Stefanski, Mayfield, or "sources" want to suggest otherwise, the chances of Mayfield actually experiencing no pain, discomfort, or changes to his mechanics due to his shoulder injury are slim to none. The mere presence of the brace should be enough to disprove this talking point, but it's clear when watching the offense play that Stefanski is unable to call his full array of schemes. Rollouts, a staple of Mayfield's excellent play in 2020, have not disappeared from the playbook entirely, but they have been called noticeably less frequently since the injury.
If Stefanski is changing his offense, and Mayfield is struggling to throw the ball accurately, then maybe his shoulder is actually an issue. It's not an excuse; his pocket presence is poor right now, as are his lower body mechanics, and he isn't reading the field well. But it is one reason for this rut. One of many.
Here is a non-comprehensive list of some of the things affecting Mayfield right now:
Shoulder injury
Footwork
Pocket presence
Improper reads and unwillingness to take the easy throw
Lack of trust in Donovan Peoples-Jones and Anthony Schwartz
Continual implementation of Odell Beckham Jr.
Absence of Jarvis Landry
Starting left tackle Jedrick Wills Jr. playing on a bum ankle
Backup LT Chris Hubbard injured and inactive
Third and fourth-string LTs (Blake Hance and James Hudson) providing rough play
Wyatt Teller regressing to the mean
Jack Conklin reportedly playing hurt and is a shell of his typical All-Pro self
Uncharacteristic and seemingly random mistakes from the entire offense in key situations (4th down, for example)
These are not excuses. Mayfield's poor play is unacceptable, and is not the kind of performance that a player seeking $45 million-plus annually can afford to put up. It also doesn't mean he's a bust, that he shouldn't be extended, that he can't bounce back, or that he was never good.
Everything was lined up for Mayfield to play extremely well this season, and that's why it's so disappointing to see him struggle so badly; he had one of his worst outings as a pro against the Minnesota Vikings, missing throw after throw and costing Beckham a massive game.
Speaking of Beckham, the assertion that he is somehow responsible for Mayfield's poor play is asinine. There is a difference between correlation and causation, and Beckham does not have some mystical aura surrounding him that causes Mayfield to suddenly forget how to play quarterback when OBJ is on the field. All he does is get open at an extremely high rate. It's up to Mayfield to get him the ball.
Mayfield has not been inaccurate only when throwing to Beckham. He's missing everyone right now, and seems to be too eager to scramble, when he is far from a scrambling quarterback. He also does not trust his offensive line at the moment, as he is bailing from pockets and rolling to his right rather than stepping up and avoiding pressure from the pocket.
It was not so long ago that Mayfield was playing better football than he ever had in his life. That player did not just disappear, and he didn't just all of a sudden become bad for no apparent reason. It's fair to question whether he is a consistent enough passer to warrant a massive contract, but acting like he isn't capable of making just about every throw at a high level is just ignoring the truth.
One can be dissatisfied and concerned with Mayfield, while acknowledging there are plenty of reasons for his current situation and while having confidence he can and will overcome them. The first step is to get him healthy, and if that requires shutting him down for a game or two, so be it. The offense around the QB position is good enough to win with Case Keenum, and the defense has simply dominated the past two weeks.
Next, Mayfield needs to become comfortable in the pocket once again. And maybe that won't happen until his bookends are both healthy and playing like the great players they are.
He needs to fix is footwork and mechanics so he'll stop missing high, which is a phase he goes through every now and then. There isn't any reason to think that won't go away, either. It always has before.
Finally, Mayfield needs to read the field better. He's not seeing the open receiver, especially downfield, which is almost always Beckham. He isn't forcing the ball to Beckham or focusing on him too much, as many would assert; if that were the case, Mayfield's numbers would look significantly better, because despite garnering a great deal of attention, Beckham is still getting open as well as he ever has.
Let's be honest about what Mayfield has been over the past three games, and also about the player he has proven he can be. Let's be consistent about applying a standard to Mayfield, regardless of how well he actually has to play in order to win. And let's not reduce a complex problem with many different valuables down to an easy cop-out answer that isn't representative of what's actually happening.
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