San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
Gruden likens QB Mayfield to scrappy Garcia
The NFL career of Baker Mayfield is in its nascent stage, comprising a little more than one half of intriguing football. And still, Raiders head coach Jon Gruden, who analyzed young quarterbacks for a living with his previous employer, had a comparison ready this week for the Browns’ rookie.
Mayfield, the reigning Heisman Trophy winner and No. 1 overall draft pick who makes his first NFL start Sunday in Oakland, “has a lot of Jeff Garcia in him,” Gruden said.
“He’ll dive for first downs, he’ll extend plays,” Gruden said. “He’s got a really good, competitive spirit about him. I love the way he plays.”
While best known for his time with the 49ers, Garcia played two seasons late in his career with
Gruden as his coach in Tampa Bay, making his last Pro Bowl after the 2007 season at age 37. In the lead-up to this year’s draft, Garcia said, he heard several pundits make the comparison between Mayfield and him.
His own impression?
“I just see Baker Mayfield as a scrappy, smart, headsy player, a guy that is going to do anything and everything to be successful on the football field,” Garcia, 48, said in a phone call this week. “I see a young man who makes good decisions, who’s accurate with his throws, who’s able to extend plays and make things happen, whether from within or outside the pocket.”
Garcia said he figures a lot of the comparisons probably stem from Mayfield’s height. Garcia was undersized at 6-foot-1 and 195 pounds, and his scrappy image was magnified by the fact that he didn’t break into the NFL until age 29 after years in the Canadian Football League. He went on to make four Pro Bowls, three with the 49ers.
Mayfield, listed at 6-1 and 215 pounds, was a walk-on at Texas Tech who transferred to Oklahoma and went on to win the Heisman last season by the third-highest voting percentage in the trophy’s history. Still, it was widely viewed as a surprise when the Browns used the No. 1 overall pick to select Mayfield from a touted quarterback field in this year’s draft.
“He’s undersized in a lot of ways, as far as what people have stereotyped the position to be,” Garcia said. “And that was something that I always fought as a player. But I didn’t allow it to slow me down or keep me from making plays and leading teams to wins and playoffs and all those things.”
While Mayfield has much to accomplish on that front, his debut against the Jets on Sept. 20 spurred the Browns and kindled the hopes of their maligned fan base. After starter Tyrod Taylor suffered a concussion, Mayfield came off the bench with 1:42 left in the second quarter with his team trailing 14-0 and led the Browns to a 21-17 win, snapping a 19-game winless streak.
Mayfield completed 17 of 23 passes for 201 yards and led scoring drives on four of six possessions. He also caught a pass for a two-point conversion on a trick play.
“He throws well on the run, makes plays happen on the run, but that’s not his only strength,” Garcia said. “And we saw it ... where he was making plays from within the pocket, throwing on time, hitting receivers out of their breaks, making the right reads, going through his progressions, doing all those things.”
Raiders defensive coordinator Paul Guenther, who was also the opponent in Cincinnati when former Browns quarterback Johnny Manziel made his first NFL start in 2014, also cited Mayfield’s ability to make throws with his feet set and a rush bearing down.
“For a young guy, he stands in the pocket, remains a passer,” Guenther said. “You don’t always see that. He’ll move around some in the pocket. So we’ve got to make it uncomfortable for him in the pocket.”
That has not been a strength of the Raiders’ defense, which has three sacks in three games.
Despite going winless the first two weeks, Browns head coach Hue Jackson this week stood by the decision not to start Mayfield immediately. Jackson said Mayfield was “a real student” for those weeks, which helped him “nail the opportunity” when he entered against the Jets.
Jackson said on a conference call Mayfield’s debut reinforced “that he can really play.” He also tried to temper the hype.
“This is a humbling league for that position,” Jackson said. “He knows he has a lot to learn, a lot of growth that’s got to happen. And it’s going to be a huge growth spurt this week. It’s going to be different for him. It’s not going to be like coming off the bench. He’s going to walk out there first.”
Matt Kawahara is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: mkawahara@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @matthewkawahara