Cleveland Browns: 5 reasons Browns will ravage Raiders in Week 8

2. Baker without OBJ

The Browns Twitteratti wants it both ways. They tell us the Browns offense is not the same without OBJ, but. Mayfield does seem freer in his decision making when No. 13 isn’t out there.

So which one is it? Browns fans will get to test the Baker Theory on Sunday, and Baker without Beckham should be one of the big storylines brought up throughout the game.

Browns fans who’ve watched the last 23 games know Mayfield was a different quarterback in 2018 when he wasn’t tasked with getting a superstar the ball.

And that’s the Mayfield who showed up last week in Cincinnati, spreading the ball to six different receivers, while throwing touchdown passes to four different targets.

John Gruden wil have an entire week to gameplay for the Browns without OBJ, though, and it remains to be seen what kind of impact that will have on the offense, OBJ didn’t make the weekly eye-popping plays we all thought he would after coming to Cleveland, but the threat was always there and defensive coordinators always had to account for him.

Look for Donovan Peoples-Jones to get more of a shot in Week 8. Obviously, he’s no Beckham, but he has speed that can stretch the field. Otherwise, Mayfield should be able to utilize all his targets, just as he did against Cincinnati.