Stefanski loves Mayfield’s intangibles as a QB
Kevin Stefanski continued to praise quarterback Baker Mayfield as the new head coach of the Browns went on a mini-media blitz Wednesday.
During an interview with SiriusXM NFL Radio, Stefanski said great quarterbacks possess an “intangible thing that no one can really name, and it’s that ‘it factor.’”
There is evidence Mayfield owns a recipe for the secret sauce.
“It’s how you carry yourself. It’s how you are as a teammate. Do you make the guys around you better? And I think Baker checks all those boxes,” Stefanski said.
Yet Mayfield regressed last year in his second NFL season.
As a rookie No. 1 overall draft pick in 2018, he completed 63.8% of his passes with 27 touchdowns, 14 interceptions and a passer rating of 93.7. In 2019, he completed 59.4% of his passes with 22 TDs, 21 interceptions and a rating of 78.8.
Now the Browns are defending him, and it starts at the very top.
“I think Baker was given a hard time — I will say — this year by a lot of people,” owner Jimmy Haslam said Tuesday after Stefanski’s introductory news conference at FirstEnergy Stadium.
Haslam explained his discussions with Stefanski and the seven other candidates the Browns recently interviewed for their head coaching job reinforced the owner’s belief in Mayfield.
“Their comments in terms of his ability to play quarterback were all outstanding,” Haslam said. “Now Baker’s like all of us. He can get better, and he has some things to work on. But the confidence when these outsiders [were] looking at our team and particularly looking at Baker was outstanding. So I just think we feel good about going forward.”
Haslam added Stefanski will “be a big help to Baker, which I think we all know how important that is for the team.”
Mayfield repeatedly admitted he needed to improve his footwork last season, when he was uncharacteristically inaccurate at times.
Stefanski speaks as if getting Mayfield back on track is more than realistic.
“The No. 1 trait for a quarterback — and this is no secret — is accuracy, and it’s something that you can improve, but you really either have it or you don’t,” Stefanski said.
“And when you talk about improving accuracy, really it’s going to be a matter of working from the ground up, and you can help a quarterback with his footwork and his balance and all those type of things. But there is a such a natural part of that, a natural aspect of accuracy, and Baker has that.”
In his first presser with the Browns, Stefanski said “there are plenty of things that we’ll do schematically to hopefully make life easier on” Mayfield.
The play-action passes Stefanski called last year as the offensive coordinator of the Minnesota Vikings could benefit Mayfield tremendously. Stefanski operated a scheme longtime NFL coach Gary Kubiak helped him construct. Its staples are a running game powered by zone blocking and play action.
According to ProFootballFocus.com, Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins threw play-action passes on 31.4% of his dropbacks in 2019. The figure for Mayfield was 28.7%.
Mayfield was much better on play-action throws than the rest of his attempts.
Without play action, he had a completion percentage of 56.4 and a passer rating of 68.8 and averaged 6.4 yards per attempt, according to PFF. With play action, he had a completion percentage of 66.5 and a rating of 102.5 and averaged 9 yards per attempt.
“I see really legit movement skills,” Stefanski said of Mayfield on SiriusXM NFL Radio. “He makes plays off schedule as good as anybody, and that shows me that he can make plays on the move whether we design it or not. So we’re going to design some plays to get him on the move and hopefully get him some big chunk completions.
“Then there’s going to be other times where he’s going to make a play that has no right of being made. I’m going to call a bad play or we’re going to call a bad play and it’s into a bad coverage, and he’s going to scramble and make a play. So that’s the type of thing you can’t teach that he really has when it turns into a fast break.”