Baker Mayfield’s bitterness towards the Cleveland Browns is understandable but it’s holding him back

Baker Mayfield clearly doesn’t have fond memories of the Cleveland Browns

Somehow, Baker Mayfield’s 2022 is significantly worse than his 2021. Mayfield, who is on the Mitch Trubisky career trajectory of quarterbacks who played well but can’t get a consistent opportunity after a while, went from a playoff-winning quarterback to being benched for Sam Darnold.

I think Mayfield has the talent to excel in the NFL, he just needs the right coach and scheme. This is true for literally every quarterback ever. Geno Smith in Seattle, Ryan Tannehill in Tennessee, Tua Tagovailoa in Miami, Russell Wilson in Denver, Derek Carr in Las Vegas, and so many others have proven that a coach with the right scheme is all it takes to make a player better or worse.

Smith, Tannehill, and Tagovailoa all showed that all they needed was the right coach and scheme, while Carr and Wilson proved that the wrong coach or scheme was all it took to nerf them.

Whatever the reason is, fans aren’t seeing the best Mayfield has to offer in Carolina.

Perhaps some of it still has to do with the fact that Mayfield isn’t right mentally. 2021 took a toll on the former Browns quarterback and the team opted to move on from him in the offseason. It was an entire scenario that made everyone look bad at the moment and long after.

Mayfield went to the Panthers with the need to play better than he ever did, and maybe in doing so he fell into some mental quicksand. It happens to the best of us, so there’s no shame but perhaps his attitude is holding him back.

We know Mayfield has struggled in Carolina. Be it due to bad coaching, to injuries, or an up-and-down situation. The Browns, on the other hand, have gotten very good quarterback play from a historically very bad quarterback in Jacoby Brissett.

Yet, both teams have just three wins. Neither side is better off without the other and the two sides will probably never come together again, even after Mayfield retires. Think about how Tim Couch is always around the team these days.

Does anyone think Mayfield will want to do the same thing? I don’t. In fact, he pretty much views Cleveland as just somebody that he used to know.

Baker Mayfield’s bitterness is understandable but pointless

A lot of people are off the Cleveland Browns these days. A lot of people are off Baker Mayfield these days. The Browns were able o get a solid, yet uninspiring play from Brissett after Mayfield, while Mayfield went and fell apart in Carolina.

We know Mayfield can play better than that, we’ve seen it. Yet, he needs to prove it. Right now the Browns look not just justified to move on from him, but like geniuses for resurrecting the career of Brissett at the same time.

It’s ok that Mayfield isn’t a big fan of the city anymore, but even he can’t deny it was in the team’s best interest after his 2022 campaign. Sure, getting Deshaun Watson to replace Mayfield is still something that sticks in my crawl, but I never had an issue upgrading the position.

I just didn’t like who they got to do it.

I hope that Mayfield can get his career going again. Obviously, if you have a good coach, you can get the most out of someone. We know that a good coach and scheme are just as important to a player playing well as talent. Mayfield can still be a starter in the league but he’s got to let go of the state of Ohio-sized chip he’s carrying around because clearly, it’s not helping him excel.

Otherwise, he’ll be less Tannehill and more Ryan Leaf.