Cleveland Browns: 4 potential QBs who could backup Baker Mayfield in 2020

2. Marcus Mariota

With the Titans set to part ways with Marcus Mariota after achieving more success without him, the former Heisman winner would bring intrigue to the quarterback room.

Mariota’s career hasn’t been great. Like Mayfield, he was thrown multiple coaches and offensive coordinators early in his career. By failing to give the former No. 2 overall pick consistency, the Titans, as an organization let him down.

In Cleveland, Mariota would ideally push Mayfield, which is something the soon-to-be third-year veteran may need. We got to see what it was like when Baker was The King of Lou Groza Boulevard and results made for one of the worst quarterbacks in the league.

Then, if you want to factor analytics and Paul DePodesta into the equation—and I think you have to at this point, Mariota may be an option.

It wasn’t all that long ago, and I think some forget, that Mayfield was the analytics darling of the 2018 draft. Well, it wasn’t all that long ago that Mariota was the jewel of the QBASE projection system, an analytics tool used to evaluate players.

Andrew Healy invented the QBASE model for the analytics website, Football Outsiders. He was on staff when the team selected Mayfield and has been employed with the Browns since 2016. He’s currently a VP of Strategy.

History says it’s not a perfect system, as there have been misses, but for what it’s worth, it did correctly forecast Russell Wilson’s success. Might analytics turn the Browns’ QB room into the new Heisman House? Intriguing, but other factors have to play out.

For example, will Mariota accept a backup role, or will he look for a place where becoming the starter is more likely?