What the hell is happening with Baker Mayfield?
The Browns QB may know one thing that we don’t (in reality, it’s secure to say that he most likely is aware of plenty of issues that we don’t), however his heartfelt letter to the town of Cleveland final evening prompted some confusion. In a notes app write-up posted to Twitter, Baker Mayfield thanked the town of Cleveland for embracing him and his household, writing “I’ve no clue what occurs subsequent, which is the which means behind the silence I’ve had through the length of this course of …I’ve given this franchise all the pieces I’ve … And that won’t change wherever I take my subsequent snap.”
By all accounts, that appears like goodbye (although he did embrace that “this isn’t a message with a hidden which means”), regardless of nary a commerce introduced on the Browns QB place. This was posted after the Cleveland higher-ups spoke with present Texans QB Deshaun Watson, who was lately cleared of felony sexual harassment expenses after sitting out the 2021-22 season. However the Browns are simply one in all a number of groups which can be assembly with Watson and the Texans to debate a commerce, a bunch that features the Saints, the Panthers, and the Falcons. Learn: no ensures.
From the best way the previous No. 1 draft decide’s word reads, it seems like he’s being pushed out of Ohio after 4 alternating years of excelling after which underperforming. He’s been inconsistent from yr to yr and he’s reportedly “prickly,” however he additionally led the franchise to their first over-.500 season in properly over a decade in 2020 and gained a playoff recreation. His 2021 season was hampered by accidents that he selected to play by way of, maybe unwisely, resulting in a tricky TD-to-interception ratio and a low completion share (rating twenty seventh of 32 certified QBs).
Mayfield appears to be shortly realizing that the Browns have come to the conclusion that their QB has reached his ceiling in Cleveland. As Stephen A. Smith put it on First Take this morning, “All over the place you look, [the Browns] had weapons. You, because the quarterback, had been the weak hyperlink. Baker Mayfield was the Achilles heel for the Browns offense.”
Surrounded by Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt within the backfield, with OBJ and Jarvis Landry as targets, Mayfield shouldered many of the blame for the crew’s failures, although many followers imagine that he doesn’t get sufficient credit score for reviving the franchise throughout his first three seasons all through a number of teaching modifications. He very properly could also be requesting a commerce whether or not or not the Browns are in a position to signal on a brand new QB — perhaps he’s carried out with Cleveland, and never the opposite approach round.
The Colts seem like a strong goal for him, as they’re out there for a brand new QB1 after buying and selling away Carson Wentz in what appears to be an ever-evolving QB commerce cycle this offseason. After all, plenty of this is determined by whether or not the Browns can get Watson or one other improve — as a result of if they will’t, and Mayfield has to remain in Cleveland, there’s positive to be some animosity subsequent season.
