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#4 Baker will save Cleveland
This was clear from the moment we saw Baker Mayfield bring the Browns back from 14-0 in the second quarter versus the Jets in week three. While we thought Sam Darnold was the easier evaluation and we still have faith that he will become a special quarterback, we never questioned if Mayfield had the skill-set to make it in the NFL and we thought he would fit very well with the organisation.
We liked his attitude, we thought his arm was vastly underrated and his pocket presence was second to none. With that being said, we didn’t expect him to excel as quickly as he did. We did a more extensive analysis on Baker and the other rookie signal-callers back in December, so you can check that out here if you are interested.
Last year’s first overall pick has shown outstanding accuracy, advanced movement skills inside the pocket and understanding for what defences are trying to do to him. However, his most important ability is to rally the troops and make everybody on his team play better.
Baker brings a swagger and energy that his teammates can feed off and he backs all that talk about when he gets on the field and delivers dimes. We like Tyrod Taylor and clearly, the Bills’ decision to put Nathan Peterman in the starting lineup a couple of years ago instead of him was ridiculous, which didn’t take long to be apparent to everybody.
Yet, when you go back and watch Mayfield’s debut as a pro, comparing the two and their performances is like night and day. Taylor tried to run around and escape when the Jets sent their zero-blitzes and ultimately got hurt because of all the hits he took while Baker took that same defence and shredded them with perfectly placed balls against their man-coverage.
Even though his development was held back by Hue Jackson, when Freddie Kitchens took over play-calling duties and built the offence more around his young QB, they showed what they are capable of.
Nick Chubb had a phenomenal rookie campaign, they have a good young receiver room, the interior three of their O-line is elite and the defence has some emerging stars with Larry Ogunjobi, Denzel Ward, Jabrill Peppers and obviously Myles Garrett.
Cleveland could be a perennial playoff contender going forward and that is to a large degree because of how their quarterback has changed the culture.
