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What does Baker Mayfield need the most for the 2020 season? Talkin’ Cleveland Browns

https://www.cleveland.com/tribe/2020/09/...and-browns.html


By Terry Pluto, The Plain Dealer
ABOUT BAKER MAYFIELD

This is a make-or-break year for Baker Mayfield...

If Baker Mayfield doesn’t look good early in the season, the Browns could quickly change quarterbacks...

Is time running out for Baker Mayfield, or will he have the best year of his young career?

You’ve probably heard comments like these for months about the Browns QB, especially in the national media. Mayfield is an easy talking point. Media members and fans often have strong opinions about him, and his personality can alienate some people at times.

What’s the real deal?

My view of Mayfield has changed from the spring. That was when the Browns brought in Kevin Stefanski as head coach with one of his jobs being to develop a more QB-friendly offense.

Then GM Andrew Berry spent big money to sign Jack Conklin to take over at right tackle. They made Jedrick Wills Jr. their first-round pick to play left tackle. Respected coach Bill Callahan was hired to develop a zone-blocking scheme for the offensive line.

Mayfield likes to throw to tight ends. Berry signed free agent Austin Hooper to a contract that made him the NFL’s highest-paid tight end – at least for a few months. It appeared the Browns were doing everything possible to set up Mayfield for success, especially since he already had Pro Bowlers Kareem Hunt, Nick Chubb, Jarvis Landry and Odell Beckham Jr. on the roster.

Mayfield has lost at least 10 pounds. He seems quicker and in better shape, physically and emotionally.

“My emphasis was cutting out bad body weight, the bad pounds,” he said on a Zoom call.

The new coaching staff, the upgraded roster and an improved off-season approach led to high 2020 expectations for Mayfield. But is that fair? For a while, that appeared to be the case.

WHAT HAS CHANGED?

If the Browns had the usual spring mini-camps, it would have been much easier for Stefanski to install his offense, and I’d feel better about Mayfield this season. If the Browns had a normal veteran training camp with at least a couple preseason games, I’d feel better about Mayfield this season.

But COVID-19 wiped out all the spring practices and summer preseason games. It also cut back on regular training camp practices. Then toss in knee surgery to starting center JC Tretter, and it’s no surprise the offense has often looked disjointed or slow in practices open to the media.

Virtual learning and Zoom calls are no replacement for on-field, muscle memory work when learning a new offense.

ONE CONSTANT: CHANGES

One of the reasons the offense has had some better moments with backup QB Case Keenum on the field is Keenum played for Stefanski in Minnesota. He already knows the offense. In the meantime, Mayfield is on his fourth head coach as he opens his third NFL season.

Let’s repeat that: FOUR HEAD COACHES IN THREE YEARS.

This season screamed for lots of practice time for the Browns and their 25-year-old QB. The new coaching staff has asked Mayfield to change his footwork. They also have him working more taking direct snaps under center than in his usual shotgun formation.

Finally, the offense is quite different that what he had at Oklahoma, or under previous Browns coaches Hue Jackson, Todd Haley and Freddie Kitchens.

Like every other NFL team, the Browns are opening the regular season with the least preparation in league history. This hurts the Browns more than other, more stable organizations. This camp is such a mess teams can’t even bring in officials to call penalties during practice because of COVID-19 restrictions limiting contact with the players.

For AFC North rivals Baltimore and Pittsburgh with established coaching staff and QBs, it’s not nearly such an obstacle. Even Cincinnati is in its second season with head coach Zac Taylor, who is starting rookie Joe Burrow at QB.

The Browns play the Ravens and Bengals in a four-day span to begun the season. So they won’t have much practice time after their first game to prepare for the second.

WHAT A WAY TO OPEN

The Browns begin the season Aug. 13 in Baltimore. I don’t feel very good about it.

The Browns will probably start rookie Nick Harris at center. He has drawn praise from Callahan for his ability to “get us in and out of the protection calls we need to make.” Callahan likes the poise of Harris, but as the veteran coach added, “until you get him matched up against teams like Baltimore and Cincinnati, you just don’t know.”

The same is true of Wills at left tackle, a position he never played in high school or at Alabama. The former right tackle is making a position switch without the benefit of preseason games to help the transition.

Assuming Tretter is out, the offensive line will have only one player who started the opener in 2019 – left guard Joel Bitonio. The offensive line has the talent to be effective, but all the new faces learning a new scheme under a new coaching staff is set up for some very traumatic moments early in the season.

WHAT ABOUT BAKER?

An NFL source told me: “Baker has embraced hard coaching and the new system. He has been studying and engaging with his teammates. It’s been up and down learning the new offense, but he is improving.”

While this may sound like excuses for Mayfield, it’s an accurate assessment of the situation he faces. Snap judgments will be made, especially if Mayfield has some poor games early. That could happen.

What does Mayfield need the most? Something fans and the media hate to give – patience.

If things are awful in the first few games, there will be a temptation to switch to Keenum. Some in the media and fan base will probably call for it. But the last thing the Browns need to do is quickly change QBs.

From the moment Stefanski and Berry were hired in January, a main mission was to help Mayfield become the answer to the Browns’ endless QB question.

I’ll say it again ... patience will be required. The Browns and Mayfield should be judged by how they perform over the 16 games. The final eight should be much better than the opening eight.

That’s how this season must be viewed.

Baker leads the league in having people make excuses for him.

I’m not always a big Pluto fan but I totally agree with this position. I’m shocked the season is happening at all. I think there’s still a very reasonable possibility things will get shut down, if just for spells.

And I think the one thing a season like this will do is make the divide between established good teams and unestablished & not good teams much wider. The one thing we needed above all else this year was time. We really needed a heaping helping of practices and walk thru’s this year. Big Nope. It’s going to be a $hi4 show early. Not just for Baker. I expect Beckham’s adhd to be in full effect. I expect the line to whiff on assignments early and often. I expect D secondary to leave big sections of the field unattended. I expect the LBs to forget how to tackle.

Until week 8 we’re going to just have to do a lot of deep breathing and yard work in the second half’s of games. I’ve been remarkably productive on fall Sundays in recent years. I expect the first two months of this season to be the same.

The changing of systems and coaches is not good obviously, but Baker also had the wrong attitude going into last season ... and his performance showed regression.

I’m not looking for him to be an elite QB, but he certainly has to show improvement from last year. I mean, the dude was the FIRST overall pick and has TONS of talent around him and a system tailored to him. If he isn’t much better this year it’s a red flag.

Agreed. I like Pluto normally but this was a spot on piece.

Funny how facts like 4th HC in 3 years can be labelled as excuses.

The problem with this is I think pretty much all of Baker's problems are mental, and I'm not just talking about reading defenses. When you are an unathletic alpha male top dog performing well for a powerhouse college football team and it's your alpha-maleness that is propelling you, then you better be able to not handle being the only alpha at the next level and you better have the confidence to weather the storm when you are not playing well and being criticized.

I don’t think Baker has the ability to handle either of those situations but I'm hoping he's learning how to. It's also why I am very confident that if he's run out of town he will be someone else's franchise QB.

Baker needs one more year after this regardless of how he plays. He needs to develop mentally and it might not be this year.

That’s a valid point. I was worried with us getting OBJ that his ego would dwarf Baker’s and Baker would lose some mojo ... that seems to have been the case

Maybe, but at least he's kept his mouth shut mostly this off season, and maybe we won't have to watch as many commercials from a mediocre player.....I'm HOPING the line holds up and running game does OK. Joe Thomas stated we've got a chance in every game IF RBs are doing good to great.....Go Browns!!!!

Of course it is opinion and I'm not asking you to agree with me. But by all accounts you are a guy who has been around sports all his life. There are probably 5 or 6 sports personalities and I'm sure you've seen all of them. One of those is the ultra confident player until they get knocked down a peg and is not quite sure how to recover guy and loses confidence in the process. This guy has had it easy their whole life, is often in the lead, and is masterful at piling on when things are going good. As soon as any doubt creeps in, the you know what puckers up and that false confidence and bravado is gone and doubt creeps in. This guy is also great at leading non-alphas. It is my opinion Baker is that guy. It is also my opinion he can overcome being that guy.

Then you have complete dogs who play their best when it matters most.

NOBODY HAS TO AGREE WITH ME. I'M OK WITH THAT.

Unathletic - really. What a load of crap.

Some couch potato in Vegas calling a Heisman trophy winner and starting QB in the NFL unathletic. Brilliant assessment.

That's not a bad theory but I see one major flaw in it. Baker had a pretty good 2018 by all accounts. According to your own theory, that in and of itself should had put him on a high coming into 2019. Your theory seems to be rooted in the fact that great adversity would be the catalyst to Baker's issues. Yet when he came to camp he was overweight. He looked sluggish and didn't even start out well.

It seems if anything he would have been very motivated coming into 2019 strong and only did worse from there. I don't know about everyone else but that's not what I saw.

I believe Baker's 2018 supports the theory. He was playing with house money. No expectations, completely free. As soon as Baker experienced advertisity in the Titans game, the wheels fell off under the immense expectations.

This was an awesome response. Covered all the bases...overly emotional affection for a player leading to an overly emotional response complete with a personal insult.

I wish the like button was working.

I think Baker's biggest problem was not being fully aware of the importance of the details (And Freddie's similar apparent oversight, as well as his pass catchers). At Oklahoma, his margin for error was pretty huge. In the NFL, it's a game of inches. His rookie season, more close calls/toss ups went his way. Plus his week to week familiarity with his receivers was better because they were healthy and actually practiced regularly. Last season, Landry and OBJ were always banged up and Higgins hardly played. It's hard to be confident in something that you've hardly done. Not knowing if OBJ could or how he would cut with his injury couldn't help. Throw in some untimely drops and doubt creeps in. I don't think it helped that Freddie seemed to add plays continuously instead of getting better at plays they would use more frequently.

I like that there seems to be a big focus on the details with Stefanski and this staff. I do worry about the lack of reps, though. It'll be interesting to see how the team handles game intensity for an entire contest.

NEWSBrowns claim DE Joe Jackson, DT Vincent Taylor, cut TE Pharaoh Brown, DT Eli Ankouby Scott Petrak September 6, 2020

BEREA — The post-cutdown tinkering of the roster began on the defensive line.

The Browns claimed defensive end Joe Jackson and defensive tackle Vincent Taylor off waivers Sunday, a day after cutting the roster to the regular-season limit of 53.

Jackson was waived by the Cowboys on Saturday and Taylor by the Bills.

The Browns waived tight end Pharaoh Brown and defensive tackle Eli Ankou on Sunday to make room.

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Stephen Carlson, in his second year out of Princeton, beat out Brown, who went to Brush High School, for the fourth tight end spot.

Jackson becomes Cleveland’s fifth defensive end, joining Myles Garrett, Olivier Vernon, Adrian Clayborn and Porter Gustin. Taylor will be the fourth tackle behind Sheldon Richardson, Larry Ogunjobi and rookie third-round pick Jordan Elliott.


The Browns also signed 14 players to the expanded 16-man practice squad, 13 of whom they cut Saturday.

The 14th is kicker Cody Parkey, who was with the team in 2016. With the possibility of players being sidelined on short notice because of COVID-19, having a kicker on the practice squad serves as insurance.

The 13 players coming back on the practice squad are: quarterback Garrett Gilbert, running backs Dontrell Hilliard and Benny LeMay, fullback Johnny Stanton, receivers Ja’Marcus Bradley and Taywan Taylor, tackle Brady Aiello, guard Michael Dunn, linebacker Montrel Meander, cornerbacks A.J. Green and Robert Jackson and safeties Elijah Benton and S Jovante Moffatt.

The two open spots could be reserved for Brown and Ankou if they clear waivers.

Joe Jackson (6-foot-4, 278 pounds) was a fifth-round pick of the Cowboys in 2018 and played five games as a rookie with four tackles and a pass breakup. He went to the University of Miami.

Taylor (6-3, 304) was a sixth-round pick out of Oklahoma State in 2017. He spent two years with the Dolphins and last year with the Bills, with whom he had six tackles in three games. In 24 career games he has 51 tackles, two sacks and three blocked field goals.

The Browns wanted to stock the practice squad with players who had gone through their training camp.

“It is a huge benefit,” Stefanski said. “We are lucky to have expanded practice squad rosters to start with and then we have a lot of guys who have been working extremely hard that unfortunately did not make the 53, but we are counting on them to help us prepare and then help us stand at the ready should we need them.


“It always is helpful when guys have an understanding of what we are doing on offense, defense and special teams.”

Before Parkey was announced as being on the practice squad, Stefanski was asked about the benefit of having an extra kicker at his disposal during the pandemic.

“I will tell you, we have given a thought to everything when it comes to that practice squad and the roster,” he said. “We just have to make sure that we are doing everything we can every week to make sure that we have the right number of guys that we will need in that week.”

NOTES

The Browns had a short practice Sunday, and safety Ronnie Harrison participated. He was acquired in a trade with the Jaguars on Thursday.

“I did talk to him,” Stefanski said. “I will tell you, over the course of the next few days our defensive staff is going to spend a lot of time with Ronnie and see where he is and what he is comfortable with, but he is a smart young man.”

** Cornerbacks Greedy Williams (shoulder), Kevin Johnson (lacerated liver) and M.J. Stewart (hamstring) and linebacker Mack Wilson (knee) didn’t practice.

** The offensive and defensive lines were given a break and didn’t practice, instead working in the weight room.

“Just want to take care of the big guys,” Stefanski said. “They have been grinding. They have been working very hard, and I appreciate that. We have not gone easy on those big men.”

j/c:

It's literally impossible to have a rational discussion about Baker on here. His fan boys have to result to insults and making things personal.

There are a plethora of facts. Some of them make it harder for Baker. Some of them make it easier for Baker. But, let's not discuss it rationally. Let's make it "personal," because you know.......attacking other posters will lead to Baker playing better.

I agree with most of this, but I take it a step farther. If Stef can get it called right, BM's season seems like his second year to me. Much of the wrong last year seemed inept coaching, calls, and general unpreparedness. These do not excuse BM's lapses in performance, and certainly can explain some of the QB's shortcoming.

I am hoping this odd year will be one filled with learning for him in this offense and lets him grow into habits that make him better. I may be wrong, and I do not wish away his lousy play at times. But it is two very different and distant worlds to point out what is wrong in blaming The QB, and to be able to fix it. FK was good at eventually accepting blame or sharing it around, but was lousy at coaching problems out of the team IMO.

Go, Browns!

Some alarming scribbles about Browns being ill-prepared, overwhelmed – Terry Pluto

https://www.cleveland.com/browns/2020/09...erry-pluto.html


By Terry Pluto, The Plain Dealer
BALTIMORE, Maryland – Trying to find something good to scribble about the Browns was harder than finding a real fan with a heart-beat in the stands during the Browns 38-6 loss to the Ravens:

1. I was hoping the Browns opening day game would at least not be an embarrassment to the level of their 41-13 loss to Tennessee last season. Well, this was about the same alarming type of opener. Instead of 18 penalties (2019), there were eight. And instead of losing by 28 points at home, it was a 32-point deficit on the road.

2. Even though I picked the Browns to lose 31-10, I expected them to put up more of a fight than what happened in Baltimore. Rookie head coach Kevin Stefanski stressed giving up 38 points was not all the fault of the defense. “We put them in some bad spots (with problems on offense),” said the coach, who also calls the plays for the offense.

3. But the Ravens never punted in the first half. They ended the second quarter by driving 65 yards in 35 seconds for a TD. They did it in seven plays. It was not the result of a single breakdown on defense. The Browns linebackers and defensive backs looked SLOW...sloth-like in terms of trying to chase down almost anyone with the ball in a purple uniform.

4. The Ravens had a 99-yard drive on 10 plays in the second quarter for a TD. While the Browns were without defensive backs Greedy Williams (shoulder), Grant Delpit (Achilles) and Kevin Johnson (liver problems),I wonder how much they would have helped. Sure, they are upgrades, but the Browns also seemed to have breakdowns in their coverage. It seems they had some schematic breakdowns.

5. As has been the case for years, the Browns can’t cover tight ends – especially near the goal line. Baltimore’s Mark Andrews caught a pair of TD passes in the red zone, wide open both times. I have nothing to say about this other it’s the same old story when it comes to tight ends.

6. QB Lamar Jackson makes a lot of defenses appear helpless, so that is something to consider. But I had the feeling the Ravens could have piled up 55 points in this game if it was needed.

7. Baker Mayfield often looked uncertain in the new offense. He was 21-of-39 passing for 189 yards. He had a TD pass (a nice play to a wide open David Njoku) and an interception. At times, he appeared to have trouble seeing receivers when standing in the pocket. The entire passing game looked clunky. Part of it is due to a lack of practice time, but not all of it.

8. If the Browns are going to be fixated on getting the ball to Odell Beckham Jr., this offense will struggle. They threw 10 passes in his direction. He caught three for a total of 22 yards. He had a drop on a short pass for a first down. A few times, Mayfield forced the ball into tight coverage trying to deliver the ball to Beckham.

9. Mayfield on Beckham: “I gotta be better. Give him a chance. He’s a great player, I’ve got to give him a chance.”

10. Stefanski on Beckham: “We have to get to the bottom of it obviously. The passing game requires precision from 11 guys in order for it to go.”

11. When it came to Mayfield and Beckham, it looked the same as last season. They don’t blend together. Maybe that will change, but I have doubts. Mayfield threw six passes to Jarvis Landry, who caught five. That’s also like last season. Landry and Mayfield connect.

12. Tight ends were supposed to be a big part of the offense. Mayfield threw three passes to Njoku, who caught them all. He had an excellent 28-yard leaping catch for the longest reception of the day for the Browns. Fellow tight end Austin Hooper was targeted twice, catching both passes for a total of 15 yards. Rookie Harrison Bryant had a 5-yard catch. Tight ends caught 6-of-8 passes thrown to them.

13. Throw the ball more to the tight ends. It’s a big part of the offense. It’s why the Browns gave Hooper a $44 million free agent deal. They threw 10 unproductive passes to Beckham. They threw a total of eight to the tight ends. Is this lopsided margin the result of Stefanski play-calling, or was Mayfield forcing the ball to Beckham?

14. The Browns defense is likely to be awful all year. The Browns have to counter that with a ball-control offense. That means running the ball with Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt. It means throwing the ball to tight ends, running backs and Landry (who is reliable in any offense).

15. Chubb and Hunt combined for 132 yards in 23 carries. They should be getting the ball 30 times a game, even when the Browns are losing. Chubb had a 29-yard run, Hunt had a 22-yard run. They are capable of making big plays. They also can help as receivers. My point is the Browns averaged 5.1 yards per carry vs. the Ravens, no reason to give up on the run even when behind.

16. Run the ball. Throw to tight ends. Chew up the clock. Make it easier for Mayfield. What happened to that game plan? That’s why I mentioned “alarming.” Perhaps Stefanski became caught up in the moment of his first game as a head coach and decided to throw the ball too much. Let’s see what he does Thursday against Cincinnati.

17. Mayfield on the game: “Sometimes a wakeup call is pretty good for everybody – a nice punch in the mouth. That is how we should take it. We should not dwell on it. Realize that we just got beat today. They played better than us... look at it, get better, move on and go play the Bengals. That is all we can do.”

18. There should have been no need for a wake-up call vs. the Ravens. They were 14-2 last season, the best team in the division. The Browns were 6-10. Mayfield was around for the disaster of 2019. He knows there’s a big gap between the two teams.

19. Kicker Austin Seibert missed his only extra point attempt and his only field goal attempt (41 yards). I doubt he will receive a lot of patience from this regime. It was the John Dorsey front office that drafted Seibert in the fifth round in 2019. The Browns have veteran kicker Cody Parkey on the practice squad.

20. The botched fake punt can’t all the the fault of Stefanski. The head coach gave the OK to use it, special teams coach Mike Priefer must have seen something with the Ravens to think it would work. They tried it on the first punt attempt of the season. It was a mess. Priefer upgraded the special teams last season, but they looked ragged on this day. They also were flagged for two penalties.

21. The Browns had eight penalties for 80 yards. Another discouraging sign. Patience will be need with this, but so will practice. Lots and lots of practice.

He says the browns D is likely to be awful all year ... and he’s probably right. But, should we be? I mean we have Garrett who was a #1 Overall Pick and a supposed elite pass rusher, Ward who was a top 5 Pick, Sheldon Richardson, Adrian Clayborn, Greedy Williams if he’s back ... is it just because our LBs and Safeties?

They tried to address the safety position - and I liked/loved the Delphit pick.... The LBs and how woeful they appear on paper has been a constant theme all off season. We'll see. Baltimore is a very good team, I don;t know that I'd base the whole season performance off this game.

This is part of the woe is me culture that has permeated the team and fan base. The DL is elite on paper. Have a legit shut down corner on paper. The other pieces should be able to play good enough and the coaches should be able to scheme to get these guys playing well.

We've had years where the D didn't have a Garrett or Ward and we begged and pleaded and hoped for a Garrett or a Ward and now that we got them we need to lower expectations? Doesn't make any sense.

Coach better, play better.

I was kinda wondering if by trying to build the D to be stronger against your normal NFL offense, we've hurt ourselves when having to play Baltimore. What good is a pass-rushing demon and (hopefully) very good cover corners when a running team can just run all over you?

I think it's a scheme/familiarity issue.

I'm assuming everyone, at some point in the game, audibly asked themselves when we're going to start covering Brown.

j/c:

I thought the safeties and LBers were really bad yesterday.

J/c

Did Harrison play yesterday? Did Joseph?

All I know is Sendejo was an embarrassment to athletics

Agree with this wholeheartedly (especially the last sentence).

I'm a little hesitant to start making grand proclamations after our first game. I'm expecting us to look MUCH better against a not-so-good Bengals and then to split to difference in terms of figuring out how good we are (not as bad as what we showed vs Balt, not as good as what I expect will happen vs a not good Bengals).

I'm guessing we trade OBJ before week 6. Basked on what I just saw Stefasnski say about percision.

everyone knows OBJ does not run routes well. Baker should know this too

I hope they do. To SF.

What is it about Browns players? You can't till Baker is gone, you want OBJ traded. . . . who else is on the list?

Depending on how they view Keenum, OBJ might be here no matter what until at least the offseason.

Pluto nailed one with insights that many fans will find hard to take. Not that his remarks are hard to read, but that they upset the kool-aid cart and all the work that the HypeSpinners put in so far.

I hated the first game. We lost, as expected by me, but it was worse than I had imagined. There are losses and there are beatings. Not much to build on, not much worth keeping IMO.

Thursday could be our first trap game of 2020. BM was barely and arguably adequate. I think it starts right there.

We’re the browns.

There’s no such thing as trap games.

Ravens are going to be one of the top 3 or 4 teams to win the S.B. - easy to get a beat down and not be able to see any progress.

Bengals have some pieces, I expect Joe B to be really good as a pro, I love Green/Boyd/Higgins as WR, Mixon is good. I think the OL probably sucks. Think their DL is decent but LBs not too hot. . . . seeing how we play vs Bengals will tell us a whole lot more about the team and KS and Baker. It may be we truly suck and this will be the season that confirms Baker aint the guy. Maybe we'll see incremental improvements. I can't wait to see though, and for sure it's no trap game!

I think, on paper, we should beat them down.

One of the things we have to do is come out as if Sunday didn't happen. Will say a LOT about Stefanski whether or not we can do that.