MOVING ON
Cleveland Browns quarterback and former OU star Baker Mayfield is putting a below average 2019 season behind him
The general manager who drafted Baker Mayfield first overall in 2018 is no longer with the Cleveland Browns, and the player who performed like a franchise quarterback as a rookie regressed in his second NFL season.
So if you want to call this a crucial year for Mayfield or state he must prove himself as the organization's long-term answer at the game's most important position, you're not going to get an argument from him.
And why would Mayfield deny what's on the line for him as he attempts to bounce back? He wouldn't, because he likes high stakes.
“That goes back to the mindset that I'm comfortable living in. That work-ethic mentality, I think that fits it,” Mayfield said Wednesday during a Zoom video conference with Browns beat writers. “But there's no doubt year three is always a big year in these contracts, and timingwise everybody knows that.
“But I'm not going to put any added pressure on myself. There's no need for that because if I win, good things will happen. Good things will happen for our team and the guys around me, and that's the most important part.
“That's why quarterback is one of the positions that's the hardest in sports. If I play better, our team is going to do better. So I put that pressure on myself, and so it doesn't matter what year it is. I have to play better each year.”
Mayfield admitted earlier this offseason the drop-off from 2018 to 2019 was humbling.
As a rookie, he completed 63.8% of his passes with 27 touchdowns, 14 interceptions and a passer rating of 93.7 in 14 games. But in the second year of his professional career, he completed 59.4% of his passes with 22 TDs, 21 interceptions and a rating of 78.8 in 16 games.
He went 6-7 as a starter in 2018, when the Browns finished 7-8-1, then 6-10 in 2019, a season in which they underachieved instead of meeting great expectations.
In the aftermath, the Browns fired coach Freddie Kitchens and mutually agreed upon a split with John Dorsey, the GM who picked Mayfield.
If Mayfield rebounds under first-year head coach Kevin Stefanski, new GM Andrew Berry's decision about whether to exercise the fifth-year option on the QB's rookie contract before next May's deadline would be a no-brainer. If not, Mayfield's future with the club would become less than clear.
Handling hurdles
No one involved anticipates Mayfield flopping again, though, not with Stefanski installing an offense predicated on wide zone blocking and play-action passing and not with Berry upgrading a talented roster this offseason with the acquisitions of tackles Jack Conklin and Jedrick Wills and tight end Austin Hooper.
The COVID-19 pandemic has obviously created obstacles, but Mayfield has no time to whine while studying a new system with Stefanski and offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt during the team's voluntary virtual offseason program.
“I think it matches up very nicely, being in control, getting checks in the run game, just being efficient,” Mayfield said of the offense Stefanski is bringing to Cleveland. “Last year, I know it wasn't a great year for turnovers, but I always pride myself on not turning the ball over.
“Some of the conversations we've had is when we do take our shots, it has to be smart decisions and there's nothing wrong with a good incompletion every once in a while. Scheme-wise, I think my skill set matches up to that very well. And then also how he's coaching it — I think it's going to be a great fit.”
Mayfield said the way world has changed amid coronavirus concerns has “absolutely” changed him personally and made him realize how important football is to him.
“Everything that we might have taken for granted when we were living in a non-quarantine life, I think we'll look back on that when things do open up again hopefully soon and that we will take advantage of those opportunities,” Mayfield said. “You only get so many (chances) in this game of football that I've been blessed to play. It doesn't last forever.
“There has been a lot of learning throughout this (virtual) process. During all this, it has kind of made everybody go back to the just sheer fundamentals. You can't do so many complex drills and all the stuff you might and everybody might not have the same equipment, but we can teach the very base fundamentals of what this new coaching staff wants to do and go from there. I think that's been the best thing is essentially just getting back to the basics.”
Mayfield said he expects a full NFL season despite the global health crisis.
In an effort to prepare, he hosted a group of teammates f or workouts and bonding experiences earlier this month in his hometown of Austin, Texas. Hooper, tight end David Njoku, backup quarterback Case Keen um andre ce ivers Rashard Higgins, Damion Ratley and KhaDarel Hodges were among the attendees. Starting receivers Jarvis Landry and Odell Beckham Jr. continued to rehabilitate from offseason surgeries instead of trekking to Texas.
“We had nine guys here,” Mayfield said. “It felt really good to get around them, to start speaking the terminology and for some of these guys to just to be around each other. I think that was a big thing for Hooper to be down here and be around some of the guys.”
Altering approach for Mayfield
With instruction from Van Pelt, Mayfield has been adjusting his footwork.
“(I've) changed my stance up in shotgun formation — putting my left foot forward, which I've never done,” Mayfield said. “But as you look at places he has been, Andy Dalton did it in Cincinnati, Aaron Rodgers does it in Green Bay. It's just a different rhythm and timing.
“It's breaking some of the habits that I've had for a long time, but getting used to it. It's just about repetition, to be quite honest with you. You can drill it. You can get used to it. That's why having the guys down [in Austin] last week was so great, being able to actually translate that to real timing on routes.”
Another change in 2020? The outspoken Mayfield has vowed to dial down the hype.
“I have a different approach this year,” he said. “I think everybody who has been interviewed on our team has hit the nail on the head over and over about this is time to work. It's time to do our thing instead of talking about it.
“This is the first media thing I've done, just because there's no need to be talking about it. It's just time to go do it, and right now, it's moving in silence, which is fine with me.”
It's also fine to label this a pivotal year for Mayfield's future, even though he's had three full-time head coaches (and another on an interim basis) since he entered the league.
“It's not an excuse for me,” he said .“The best quality about a quarterback is raising the productivity and the level of the guys around him. It doesn't matter what's going on. If I do my job, try to do that and accomplish that, then I'm playing quarterback at a high level. Yeah, you' re in year three, but the goal every year is to make it to the Super Bowl.”