MAKE OR BREAK FOR BAKER

BY ADAM GREENE

For the third consecutive season Baker Mayfield and the Cleveland Browns will open with a new head coach, but for the first time in his three-year NFL stint, he’ll have a new offense to learn. He better be quick about it.

Last year, under only-year head coach Freddie Kitchens, Mayfield regressed in every area. After going 6-7 as a starter (and really 7-7, since he replaced Tyrod Taylor in a 21-17 win over the New York Jets on Sept. 20, 2018) he again notched just six wins. But this was a Browns team many people picked to make the playoffs if not win the division after a plethora of high-powered offseason moves.

Mayfield himself was a big part of the problem. He completed just 59.4 percent of his passes for 3,827 yards, 22 touchdowns and 21 interceptions in 16 starts. Compare that to his 13.5 starts from the year before, where he completed 63.8 percent for 3,725 yards, 27 touchdowns and just 14 picks. At one point he was the NFL’s lowest rated starting quarterback throwing from a clean pocket. A damning statistic at any level.

With two and a half extra games, he managed just 102 more yards while throwing more picks and fewer TDs. All with one of the best offensive supporting casts in the NFL after the team traded for both Odell Beckham Jr. and Jarvis Landry in consecutive seasons. Second-year running back Nick Chubb rushed for 1,495 yards and eight touchdowns. Mayfield had all the support he could need. He just didn’t deliver.

Now he has a new head coach, again, Kevin Stefanski. Stefanski comes to Cleveland after a stint as the offensive coordinator for the Minnesota Vikings and is the second head coach a decent Kirk Cousins season has landed a job. Is Stefanski the next Sean McVay? Mayfield better hope so.

Because this is Mayfield’s third season. As a first round pick, Cleveland has the right to select his fifth-year option this coming offseason, but that’s not a given. Mitchell Trubisky, who has been much more successful as an NFL QB than Mayfield, had his option declined this year and is in a pitched battle with Nick Foles for his job.

And Trubisky hasn’t been throwing to guys like OBJ and Landry.

With no minicamps or OTAs, it’s hard to get a read on what Mayfield and Stefanski are going to be able to do this season, though the coach is saying all the right things after meeting up with his QB back in February before COVID-19 shut down NFL travel.

“I have been very impressed with Baker, Stefanski told 247 Sports. “He is all ball. He understands his role. He understands what we want him to do in this offense. He is doing it on the field. Just watching him get through the cadence and kind of line people up, very impressed with him. I know Andrew mentioned the shape he came in, and it is really impressive. He did a nice job. That just does not happen – there is a lot of work that goes into that, and he clearly has done the work.”

Reportedly Mayfield has shown up to camp in tremendous shape and, publicly, doing his part to be a solid member of his community, making it known that he will take a knee during the national anthem in support of Black Lives Matter.

Ultimately, Mayfield controls his own destiny. He’s a good quarterback and a smart guy, but if he flops he won’t be the first guy not to put it all together when it counted. If it doesn’t happen this season, it’s not going to happen.

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