DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Pure Football Forum Rookie QB's Mid Season Review

Which is why most GMs will tell you that the single most important part of the combine is the interview. They have watched enough film to generally know where you are as a football player, they want to know where your head is at that point.

It does also give some guys a chance who might be lesser known to get some attention.

I certainly agree with you there. I was speaking more from the fan perspective. The media tries to persuade the viewers how important the numbers are and people get so excited about 40 times and the drills.

Those in the business understand that having the athletes all under one roof and being able to interview them is the most critical part of the process.

The only place the numbers make any difference may be when two layers are so evenly ranked that the tie breaker may be the numbers.

That's the media generating controversy and the NFL and it's media partners trying to suck you into watching it in late February, just to get your football fix, at a time when there is not much other football related news...

That's exactly why Kiper had Allen as his #1 overall pick to the Browns. And he did that in late January or early February I believe.

my favorite part of the article was the last sentence about us...

"Cleveland (5-7-1) would need a handful of contenders to be taken away by an angry alien mothership to make the postseason, but there's something new in the eggnog for Browns fans this time around: hope."

https://www.profootballfocus.com/news/pro-grading-all-32-first-rounders-after-week-14

Nothing about being calm - but still awesome reading.

Mayfield has been fantastic as a rookie, and he delivered his finest performance to date in the win over the Panthers. Mayfield completed 18 of his 22 attempts on the afternoon but had three passes dropped by his receivers, meaning that he had just one true incompletion. He also delivered multiple highlight reel throws, including a perfect touchdown pass to Jarvis Landry where he moved to his left before delivering the ball exactly where it needed to be. Mayfield’s elite overall grade of 90.6 is the highest mark of his young career to date and the best mark among quarterbacks this week.

I was driving home in the car today listening to a Pat Shurmur interview with the big sports radio guy here in the NY Market, Mike Francesa.

All I could think about was 1) Pat Shurmur always seemed like a nice guy but I'm not sure about him as a coach and (most importantly) 2) How good a feeling it is that we have Baker Mayfield. The Giants might be improving, but they still have an aging Eli Manning with no replacement. We've got our box check plus'd and can look forwards. In fact, I think we have the best QB in the AFC North

j/c

Imagine the agony if we would have taken Darnold and the Jets landed Mayfield.

The correct concerns with Mayfield last spring were his height and him not being asked to do in college what he'll need to do in the pros.

Well...he has destroyed those two concerns...obliterated those concerns...and the concerns about his attitude/personality as well.

Lets hold the judgment until next year at least. I'm almost sure Mayfield will be OK, but Darnold could turn out to be a great QB, his throws on the move are beautiful, specially when he is scrambling to the left.

We also have to see if Mayfield can perform when the team is in a bump, or if he is a Alex Smith, Kirk Cousins type of QB.

Its really hard to be a top 10 QB in this league, just look at the competition. And one thing is for sure, if you are not a top 10 QB you will only good when you are on a rookie contract, don't think teams are going to repeat on Flacco and Cousins.

He's up to #7 from week 9 until present.

So, Rasta...

Don't see Ben on that list

4 of the top 9 are 6'2" or less. Can we please put away the "height is a serious concern if you aren't over 6'3"" argument.. it's dead.

5 actually...


And the height thing died a long time ago, people just want to keep making it a thing...

Google had Mahomes at 6'3" so I didn't include him... and Google is NEVER wrong!!!!

My bad. I guess he is listed at 74.13 inches... Rodgers was 74. 00 inches.

Baker Mayfield, Cleveland Browns
Pick: No. 1 | Starts: 10 | Total QBR: 47.2

There have been two Mayfields; the guy we saw under Hue Jackson and Todd Haley has looked different from the passer who has played his past five games under new offensive coordinator Freddie Kitchens. Overnight, Mayfield has transformed from struggling rookie quarterback to Pro Bowler:

SPLIT CMP ATT CMP% YDS Y/ATT TD INT RATING
w/ Haley 130 223 58.3% 1,471 6.6 8 6 78.9
w/ Kitchens 112 153 73.2% 1,406 9.2 11 4 114.4

Under Haley, Mayfield ranked 29th in passer rating and 30th in Total QBR. Under Kitchens, meanwhile, Mayfield ranks third in passer rating and sixth in QBR. What has changed?

1. The Browns benched Desmond Harrison for Greg Robinson. General manager John Dorsey didn't do a good job of addressing the left tackle position after future Hall of Famer Joe Thomas retired. Dorsey used a second-round pick on Austin Corbett, who played both guard and left tackle at Nevada. Corbett has barely played this season and is now sidelined with a foot injury. Corbett took over at Nevada for Joel Bitonio, who was the Browns' left guard next to Thomas. Jackson tried Bitonio at tackle in August, but the move didn't stick when the coaching staff fell in love with rookie free agent Harrison, who went undrafted for off-field concerns. At the end of August, the Browns traded swing tackle Shon Coleman to the 49ers and installed Harrison as their Week 1 left tackle.

Things didn't go great. In eight starts, Harrison allowed four sacks and committed eight penalties, including one that resulted in a safety, per Stats LLC. The Browns pushed former Rams bust Robinson into the lineup at left tackle when Harrison went down with an injury at the time of the coaching change, and while Robinson hasn't played at a Thomas-esque level, he has been an upgrade. Stats LLC suggests Robinson hasn't allowed a sack in five starts, although he has committed four penalties and still has his struggles with balance and interior rushers. Robinson might not be a long-term solution, but he's an upgrade at a position of weakness.



2. Mayfield is getting pressured way less frequently. Owing in part to the tackle change and in part to Mayfield growing more comfortable in the pocket, the Browns have given Mayfield far more time to work with since Kitchens took over. Before the coaching change, Mayfield was pressured on 30.7 percent of his dropbacks, which was the 13th-highest rate among qualifying passers. Since Week 9, though, Mayfield's pressure rate is down to 20.3 percent, which is 31st among 33 passers. Only Drew Brees and Ben Roethlisberger are bothered less frequently.

Mayfield has been sacked just once in his past four games. On those rare occasions in which he has been pressured, he has posted an 88.9 Total QBR, up from 16.3 under Haley and Jackson. He has been able to hit big plays under duress, like this 28-yard laser to Rashard Higgins for a touchdown against the Falcons, and after escaping pressure, as he did on a picture-perfect 51-yard strike to Jarvis Landry against the Panthers last week. The Landry pass had just a 15 percent chance of being completed per the NFL's Next Gen Stats, making it the eighth-least likely touchdown of the season.

3. The Browns have done more with play-action. Under the Jackson regime, Cleveland didn't do enough with play-action. Just 17.5 percent of Mayfield's pass attempts came with a play fake, and those plays produced a QBR of just 46.8. Over the past five games, though, Jackson's play-action rate has spiked to 28.1 percent, and his QBR on those throws is all the way up to 85.4.

Cleveland's biggest play last week came on its first snap from scrimmage, when rookie corner Donte Jackson spent a little too much time looking into the backfield on play-action. It gave former Ravens first-rounder Breshad Perriman enough time to accelerate past the rookie corner, and with James Bradberry essentially playing in a safety's position (by virtue of being in coverage on David Njoku) and taken away from the throw by a go route crossing the hash marks, Perriman was freed up for a 66-yard gain.

4. Mayfield has dominated in the red zone. Over the past five games, the 2017 Heisman Trophy winner has gone 11-of-13 in the red zone for 120 yards with nine touchdown passes. His passer rating of 144.7 on those throws is the best in football by more than 11 points. Mayfield was pretty good in the red zone under Haley, throwing for six touchdowns in 26 passes and posting a passer rating of 97.3, but he has been absolutely on fire since the coaching change.

In the past five games, the Browns have made 14 trips to the red zone and scored 14 touchdowns. I don't need to tell you that's the best rate in football. Under Haley, they had converted 58.2 percent of their red zone trips into touchdowns, which was 18th in the league. Nick Chubb's ability to catch the football has made the rookie a much more dangerous red zone weapon than traded back Carlos Hyde, who was essentially on the field to run the ball. The Georgia product already has one of the catches of the season on a wheel route in the red zone for a score against the Bengals.

No, the Browns probably aren't going to convert 100 percent of their red zone trips into touchdowns from here on out. Mayfield is going to get sacked more frequently than once per month. That stuff isn't sustainable, but even if the Browns are just pretty good in the red zone, that would be an enormous improvement on an offense that averaged just four points per red zone trip last season, the second-worst rate in the league. Mayfield already has proved that Cleveland's ceiling is way better than pretty good, and that in itself means a lot.

To put this in context, Mayfield has just completed what might be the best five-game stretch of play for any Browns quarterback since 1960. Mayfield's 114.5 passer rating since Kitchens took over has been the best over a stretch of five consecutive games with 100 pass attempts or more for a Cleveland quarterback since Milt Plum posted a 115.6 mark over a five-game stretch 58 years ago.

If you prefer adjusted yards per attempt, Mayfield has just finished the seventh-best five-game stretch in a season for a quarterback in Browns history and the best since Brian Sipe in 1978, some 40 years ago. That list includes Sipe, two seasons from Plum, Frank Ryan and the legendary Otto Graham. Nobody is a sure thing as a rookie, but Mayfield is playing better than any Browns quarterback in generations.


What's next: Keep it up. Mayfield doesn't have to improve. If he continues at or near this level, he'll be a franchise quarterback.

I don't like this article's diagnosis of the problem. They say John Dorsey didn't adequately address the LT position w/o mentioning that there was exactly 1 player acquisition that could have done so (signing FA Solder). The draft was bare, and FA was similar. This was a lazy statement.

They pile on Harrison. Harrison was a UDFA, with minimal offseason preparation that played admirably despite the shortcomings related to the situation, offseason preparedness and injury during training camp. I feel that it's a lazy statement to say that Harrison played poorly and leave it at that (similar to the Dorsey statement).

We were also sticking with Hyde (who I loved) and leaving Chubb on the bench. We traded Hyde, but it seems like the coaching change allowed us to unleash Chubb. A RB that's scary with the ball in his hands, which Chubb seems to be, helps with the pass rush and making the QB look good. This was also left out.

We also picked up Perriman in the middle of the year. Perriman isn't some sort of world-beater, but he's proven to be an upgrade, especially when our WR was banged up for a little bit. (article also failed to mention that our WR was banged up)

If dude had a clue and wanted to do his job ...

He’d look at those PESKY LITTLE DETAILS like how much “help” Harrison recieved either chipping or double teaming compared to how much “help” Robinson is getting ...

This dudes another great example of why .......

STATS ARE FOR LOSERS!!!!!

Dudes LAZY or has NO CLUE ... i get it .. NONE of them would dig that far thats why almost all of them STINK at this ...

Yes. Agreed. Nice post.

I was going to post something similar.

Also need to account for the types of plays that are called. Baker is getting rid of the ball almost a third of a second faster.

Best thing about this is Flacco will be GONE after this year.

Jackson takes over.

Harbaugh and Coaching staff history?

Ozzie GONE.

ADVANTAGE US.

I'm telling you guys. JOIN THE ISLE. The stars have aligned, Dawgs.

Nothing against the kid, other than the team he was drafted to. With that, as he goes, so goes the Ravens. So to that, I hope he doesn’t develop and the Ravens waste a few years on him before they have to draft a QB again...and I wish the same fate on that prospect too.

Ummm.......didn’t the ravens win a super bowl with a run game and excellent defense?

Didn’t the Seahawks win a super bowl with a run game and excellent defense?

I get that you don’t like Lamar, but please do me a favor and stop making up obviously wrong information to fit your agenda. It’s honestly quite pathetic.

Did u watch the SB the rats won with there D and running game ....

Either one .. Trent’s or Joe’s ... let me now witch one your reffering to and then

Get back to me ... ....

They were 5th and rushing and 1st in defense, and got to the super bowl.

But I guess the difference is I won’t make up nonsense to fit a narrative. Atleast the criteria I use to judge QBs or teams is fair across the board.

Tab makes it a point to follow me around whenever Lamar pops up just to trash him. It’s like he’s upset I like Lamar Jackson, and has this false perception that I support him more than baker. He’s said so himself, despite me repeatedly saying baker was better.

But tab also told me trub was better than Watson too. Oh well.

And that’s it. If you don’t like Lamar, fine. But don’t make up BS narratives, cause you’ll get called out.

Oh, and I noticed you didn’t say anything about the Seahawks. Wonder why.

Baker mayfield then the rest

Right? That’s why Aaron Rodgers is currently leading his team in the division race...

Brady is still better.

you know, rastan, I have a feeling if Baker was making bad decisions, holding the ball too long and getting sacked and throwing interceptions you would not be withholding judgement , you would be calling him a bust and calling the browns idiots for drafting him.

so darnold’s throws in the move are beautiful eh, especially when he is scrambling to his left. I have a picture in my mind’s eye of baker scrambling to his left squaring up and throwing a perfect strike to Jarvis about 50-55 yards down the field, into a very very small window between two defenders. was that a “beautiful throw” or was that a “noodle armed” throw??

That was the best throw any rookie QB is making this season.

I don’t know swish. Baker has three more games. No telling what he may come up with the rest of the season!!

Than Rodgers? Surely you jest. He even said himself he's not as good as Rodgers.

I will agree Brady is smarter though. Taking less $ to stay on the best team is one of the major reasons they have remained dominant for so long. If they had to pay Rodgers salary they wouldn't be able to maintain the depth they are so well known for.