Kyle Shanahan is Baker Mayfield’s last best hope to resurrect his career

Former Cleveland Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield is on the move once again.

The Cleveland Browns’ former first overall pick Baker Mayfield is not having a good 2022. He was pushed out of his spot in favor of embattled assaulter Deshaun Watson and then was traded to the Carolina Panthers for what will now end up being a fifth-round draft pick. A combination of bad coaching, poor schemes, injuries, and inconsistent play led to Mayfield getting benched in favor of Sam Darnold.

The Panthers then demoted him to the third-string quarterback. That on its own wasn’t much to write about, but after injuries to Lamar Jackson and Jimmy Garoppolo, it appeared Mayfield saw his chance and requested his release. He ultimately got it and now looks like the favorite to land in San Francisco to replace Garoppolo, who is out for the year with a broken foot.

Should the 49ers have interest, and there’s a good reason they should, Mayfield will have his best shot at resurrecting his career with the 49ers. There may be no better quarterback guru right now in the NFL than Kyle Shanahan.

Shanahan’s career is built around getting the most out of quarterbacks. Obviously, what he’s done in San Francisco with Garoppolo is obvious, but he also guided Matt Ryan to the MVP while they were both in Atlanta. Shanahan was also why the Browns went 7-9 in 2014 with Brian Hoyer at quarterback.

In 2012 and 2013, he developed Robert Griffin III and Kirk Cousins, and before that, he turned Matt Schaub of the Houston Texans into a Pro Bowler. Shanahan is as close to a quarterback guru as they come.

If he can’t rebuild Mayfield, it’s unlikely no one can.

There is hope that Kyle Shanahan could get the most out of Baker Mayfield

Should Mayfield go to San Francisco, it would boggle my mind if it doesn’t end up there, we very well may see the same Mayfield who lit up the league in 2018 and 2020. He was a good quarterback for a spell and even hit the Top 10 in QBR for 2020. He can be a good quarterback when he’s in the right system and has the right coach.

This isn’t a question of if he can get there, it’s only a matter of how he can get back there. Was the injury that bad in 2021 that it messed up his mechanics that much? Was Matt Rhules that bad of a coach (yes)?

We’re going to find out.

His arrival in San Francisco as of right now is speculative at best, but should he join the league’s best defense and a stacked corp of offensive playmakers, we may see the best version of Mayfield yet, or his last best shot at proving his doubters wrong.