6 Cleveland Browns whose stock crashed in embarrassing Patriots loss

4. Cleveland Browns QB Baker Mayfield

Don’t take the inclusion of Baker Mayfield here as Baker hating. I’m rooting for him. He’s tries hard. He seems to like playing here.

Andrew Berry is no fool, though. He’s not giving Mayfield $40 million per season.

This game was another example of Mayfield needing everything to go according to plan for things to work out. When the Browns got down two scores and Stefanski gave up on the run, thus asking Mayfield to make plays from the pocket, well, he transformed into Bad Baker and never came back.

In a new contract, I’d love to keep him in the mid-20s. Maybe he’d sign up for it. The Browns have a great line. Their running backs are top notch and while the receiving room needs an elite talent, the group has talent to speak of right now.

I’m a believer that the great ones can lift their teams up when not everything is clicking. Without Chubb and Hunt, and with the defense reeling, Mayfield let it get away.

He left the field just before the end of the third quarter with what’s described as a lower leg injury. The practice week will see it all shake out, but the Browns need wins in a cluttered AFC North. A franchise QB of the $40 million type would deliver.