Mayfield steps up to Luck’s level
Browns QB’s success leads to comparisons with Colts’ star QB.
One could make a good BEREA — argument that Baker Mayfield and Andrew Luck are the top two overnight sensations in the recent history of quarterbacks drafted No. 1 overall.
It’s a great time to make the case, since their teams will practice against each other today and Thursday before dueling in a preseason game Saturday.
In 2012, Luck landed with a Colts team that had been 2-14 the year before. He started every game as the Colts went 11-5.
Mayfield came to Cleveland months after an 0-16 shipwreck. Even though he steered the Browns to a 5-3 finish in the second half of 2018, the advantage goes to Luck here. Advantage Mayfield here: Comparing rookie years, Mayfield led 60.2-54.1 in completion percentage, 27-23 in touchdown passes and 93.7-76.5 in passer rating. Mayfield almost never got sacked after he got his feet under him (five in his last eight games), while Luck got hit throughout 2012 (19 sacks in the first half of the season, 22 in the second).
This week will offer at least a glimpse of where Mayfield stands in relation to the Andrew Luck Line.
John Dorsey, who drafted Mayfield last year, has seen both sides of the line. Dorsey was general manager in Kansas City when Luck, a second-year pro, faced the Chiefs in the playoffs. Luck threw for 443 yards and four touchdowns in a 45-44 win.
The Browns’ wildest dreams have Mayfield playing a more advanced game than even Luck did in his second year. After all, Luck did wilt in his next playoff game, throwing four picks in a 43-22 loss to New England. And his passer rating for his second regular season was a modest 87.0, below Mayfield’s rookie mark of 93.7.
Browns left guard Joel Bitonio isn’t trading his quarterback. Since arriving in 2014, he has blocked for starting QBs Brian Hoyer, Johnny Manziel, Connor Shaw, Josh McCown, Austin Davis, Cody Kessler, Robert Griffin III, DeShone Kizer and Tyrod Taylor.
Bitonio loves how the team took shape with Mayfield in 2018 and imagines a jump in the second year. After Monday’s practice, he cited two examples of Mayfield’s growth.
First, there was the quick 77-yard touchdown drive against Washington.
“Freddie (Kitchens) said, ‘Hey, we’re going two-minute out the gate. We’ll see how it goes,’” Bitonio said. “I think Baker was making the calls, what he wanted to throw, what he wanted to do, and we marched down the field.
“There was good protection. Guys were getting open. It was as crisp as you could ask for for the first drive of the season.
“It makes you feel a lot better after the game.”
Bitonio said Mayfield wasn’t dealing with blitzes against Washington, but figures his QB will be effective when opponents start bringing the heat.
“Baker has learned a lot,” Bitonio said. “I think last year it took him a while to understand they were blitzing from the left or blitzing from the right. This year he’s either adjusting the protection or making the quick throw that gets the ball out. He’s always been good at that.
“But he can move in the pocket as well, which sometimes when you have an unblocked nickel or someone off the edge, you just need to step up a little bit to make that big throw. He shows an ability to do that, for sure.”
Wideout Jarvis Landry said his connection with Mayfield “continues to grow.”
“The beauty with Baker is he’s very transparent,” Landry said. “He asks you after a play, ‘What did you see?’ That shows the maturity and the growth.”
Landry has seen Mayfield at the Andrew Luck Line all along, in terms of being worth a No. 1 draft pick.
“I’ve believed in Baker since he was in college,” Landry said. “To understand that we had the first pick and it might be him, I was excited. I’ve been a believer.”
It remains to be seen whether opponents will get wild with blitzes or take a conservative approach out of respect for Mayfield’s early grasp of NFL wiles.
“If you see a blitz coming,” Kitchens said, “there are a couple of things you can do. You can fix the problem, or you can react to the problem.
“Letting him continue to grow in the fact that he can do either one and know what comes off of that ... there’s the key.
“Yeah, I definitely see improvement, and I expect to see improvement tomorrow, and so on. Then before long, he will be pretty good at it.”
For now, Mayfield gets the week to present evidence as to where he stands in relation to the Andrew Luck Line.