The curtains have finally closed on Baker Mayfield’s time with the Cleveland Browns. After a summer of speculation and drama, the Carolina Panthers traded a conditional fifth-round pick for the former number one overall selection. Mayfield finally gets his shot with another team, but it won’t be easy.
Mayfield’s four years with the Browns were eventful. Two good years, his rookie year and third year, were split up by a tough second year and followed up by a bad – but injury-ridden – fourth and final season with the Browns. Mayfield showed glimpses of real promise. He was one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL down the back half of the 2020 season, and while his 2021 season began filled with promise, a torn labrum in his non-throwing shoulder exacerbated all of the issues that plagued him at different times.
In the eyes of the Browns, there just wasn’t enough development to not take a risk and trade for Deshaun Watson. That, in itself, is an entirely different mess, but obviously, it directly contributed to the end of Mayfield’s time in Cleveland.
Reports of his personality rubbing people the wrong way, as well as inconsistent play and a loaded salary in 2022, put some quarterback-needy teams off from trading for Mayfield. Still, two teams were continuously linked: the Seattle Seahawks and the Panthers. Eventually, it was the Panthers that made a move for Mayfield.
Carolina were obviously interested in Mayfield, but they didn’t jump the gun in a way that signified they were desperate for him. They were comfortable putting this one in the slow-cooker due to the numbers at stake. It ended with the Browns paying a significant portion of Mayfield’s salary – which could speak volumes – and the quarterback foregoing $3.5 million.
Despite the Panthers trading for Mayfield, it’s not a foregone conclusion that he will start the 2022 season as the Panthers quarterback. He’ll have to battle Sam Darnold for that honour. Darnold, like Mayfield, has a lot to prove. Both players are heading into their fifth-year option with no guarantee that the Panthers will want to re-sign either of them in 2023.
In theory, Mayfield is the better quarterback. Granted, he’s been in a better situation than Darnold for the past four years, but the film speaks for itself. However, Mayfield is not without flaws. His 2021 shows that, even though he was hurt, his skillset isn’t without its warts.
Prime among those concerns is his footwork. When things broke down and the pocket crumbled, Mayfield’s footwork became sloppy. His feet were often unaligned with his intended target, facing directly downfield – while his body was trying to compensate. Usually, that leads to inaccuracy. And for a streaky passer like Mayfield, that’s a concern. His completion percentage dropped to 41.8 percent when pressured in 2021, per PFF, the eighth lowest in the NFL.
And while being in a new environment will be beneficial to Mayfield, it’s not a quick fix for his ailments. Nor is being healthy. These are issues that have stuck with Mayfield since college. It’s not a good sign that that’s the case, but as his 2020 tape showed us, there is a very good quarterback in there somewhere. This also begs the question: are the Panthers the right team to bring out that version of Mayfield?
There are two ways to look at it. From a talent standpoint, the Panthers’ offense is in a good position. D.J. Moore will be the best receiver that Mayfield has ever thrown a pass to in the NFL. He has back-to-back-to-back 1100-yard receiving seasons and is only 25 years old. Christian McCaffrey, when healthy, is one of the best running backs in the league and is a dynamic pass-catching threat. And with players like Terrace Marshall Jr., Robby Anderson, and Rashard Higgins, the Panthers have great depth at the receiver position.
The offensive line doesn’t stack up as well as the Browns’, but with Ikem Ekwonu, Austin Corbett, and Bradley Bozeman added to the unit, it’ll be more than passable. Overall, it’s a good roster. The defense was one of the better units in the NFL last season and should look to improve once again.
However, the recurring theme here is that success isn’t guaranteed. The coaching staff in Carolina doesn’t light any fires in the belly. There was growing sentiment that Matt Rhule wouldn’t even make it to the 2022 season as the Panthers’ head coach. With two five-win seasons under his belt, he’ll be on the hot seat this year in Charlotte.
There’s also the extra caveat of Ben McAdoo. The former Giants HC is now the offensive coordinator for the Panthers and is also a noted Mayfield-sceptic. As a coordinator, McAdoo had his question marks. He hasn’t called plays since 2017 during his failed stint as Giants HC and even then, he gave up play calling duties in a desperate attempt to revitalize the offense. It didn’t work.
So, despite the weapons, and the hope of the talent buried under the inconsistencies, Mayfield isn’t set up to succeed in Carolina. Rhule and McAdoo might not be the best candidates to extract that talent, but they also have their backs up against the wall. They’ll do their best to help Mayfield gel in his new surroundings. It won’t be easy, but Mayfield at long last has his shot.
-Thomas Valentine
Twitter: @tvalentinesport
Photo: Erik Drost. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.