Which Was The Real Baker Mayfield? Year 1 Or Year 2?

Cleveland Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield has a lot riding on the coming NFL season, and the Cleveland Browns have a lot riding on Baker Mayfield. It’s hard to imagine either succeeding without lots of help from the other.

The 25-year-old first overall pick in the 2018 NFL Draft is approaching his third year in the league. His first two were a study in extremes. He followed a brilliant, record-setting rookie season with a disastrous clunker in his second year.

Now, here comes his third season. Mayfield will be playing for his fourth head coach and second general manager in three years. His two top receivers, Odell Beckham Jr. and Jarvis Landry, are both coming back from off-season surgeries. And the team has yet to convene due to a worldwide pandemic.

Other than that, it’s business as usual for the 2017 Heisman Trophy winner, for whom the stakes in 2020 couldn’t be higher. Mayfield will prove which version of himself is the authentic one: the franchise quarterback he appeared to be as a rookie, or the jumpy, scatter-armed turnover machine he was in his second season.

“There’s no doubt year three is always a big year in these contracts. Everybody knows that,” Mayfield said, in a Zoom conference call with reporters. “I am not going to put any added pressure on myself. There is no need for that because if I win, good things will happen and good things will happen for our team and the guys around me. That is the most important part. That is why quarterback is one of the positions that is the hardest in sports. If I play better, our team is going to do better. It does not matter what year it is. I have to play better each year.”

New General Manager Andrew Berry and new head coach Kevin Stefanski have tried to stack the deck for a Mayfield turnaround in 2020. Through the draft and free agency, they added bookend offensive tackles Jedrick Wills and Jack Conklin. They signed Pro Bowl tight end Austin Hooper as a free agent, and, perhaps most important of all, the Browns hired Stefanski, the former offensive coordinator for the Minnesota Vikings, as the team’s new coach.

Mayfield says he’s not intimidated by having to learn still another offensive system.

“Coming out of the draft, I always thought I was able to adapt to whatever system I was going to be in,” he said. “To be a smart player is something I pride myself on. It could be an excuse if I wanted it to be, but there is nothing wrong with getting knowledge from different guys that have coached and been around great players.”

After setting an NFL rookie record for touchdown passes (27, in 13 starts), in 2018, Mayfield nearly led the league with 21 interceptions in 2019. Only Jameis Winston threw more.

“I know I have not had the success that I truly want to accomplish down the road, but if I can combine all this and play within the system that I am in now, that is when good things happen,” Mayfield said.

Good things were supposed to happen last year for the Browns. After winning five of their last seven games in 2018 and finishing with a record of 7-8-1, the team’s fewest losses in 10 years, optimism abounded in 2019. Instead, chaos reigned. The Browns were a penalty-prone, undisciplined mess under overmatched rookie head coach Freddie Kitchens.

Mayfield was sacked 40 times, 15 more than his rookie season, and the expected electric passing game, featuring Mayfield, Beckham and Landry never materialized.

One of the most hyped teams in recent NFL seasons fell flat on its face, and after the season both Kitchens and General Manager John Dorsey were fired.

Mayfield said things will be different this year under Stefanski.

“It’s time to work. It’s time to do our thing, instead of talking about it. This is the first media thing I have done just because there is no need to be talking about it. It is just time to go do it,” he said.

According to Mayfield, the Stefanski/Mayfield partnership is off to a great start.

“Being in control, getting checks in the run game and just being efficient,” Mayfield said. “Last year, I know, was not a great year for turnovers, but I have always prided myself on not turning the ball over. That is something in the conversations we have had is where we do take our shots, it has to be smart decisions and there is nothing wrong with throwing an incompletion every once in a while. Scheme wise, I think my skillset matches up to that very well and also how he is coaching it. I think it is going to be a great fit.”

Having a fully-healthy receiving corps led by Beckham and Landry should also help.

“Those guys have been working extremely hard after their surgeries,” Mayfield said. “They look really good, and they say they feel really good. . . They are ready to take over, and it is their time now. They know that. We only have so many more opportunities together. They are going to do everything they can for each other. I am looking forward to seeing the productivity they have.”