First look: Quarterbacks

With members of the Browns roster in the midst of undergoing COVID-19 testing, time to begin a position-by-position look at the 2020 team as it ramps up for training camp. First, the quarterbacks.

This will be an interesting season for Baker Mayfield, whose reputation and standing throughout the National Football League will be put to a stern test, fairly or unfairly.

The big question: Is he the franchise quarterback the Browns have yearned for the last two decades, the one who stunned the league with a record-breaking rookie season and gave birth to excitement for the future?

Or is he the mistake-prone passer who time after time let down the fans in a highly disappointing sophomore season that eventually led to yet another housecleaning by the flummoxed ownership?

That’s the mystery new head coach Kevin Stefanski and his brand new coaching staff will try to unlock in a season where, under different circumstances, he would have a chance.

Without the benefit of minicamps, OTAs and exhibition games, the new coach is operating from way behind with a player he knows little about and is expected to whip him into an effective weapon tout de suite, rolling right into the season without the benefit of exhibitions.

Stefanski and new offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt are undoing all Mayfield learned in his first two seasons – good, bad and otherwise – and molding him in their image, one they believe will take the offense in the right direction.

Mayfield, assumedly, will be at the end of a very long leash; assumedly for two reasons. Not knowing exactly what kind of a head coach Stefanski will be factors into the equation is one.

Will he be an impatient head coach when the offense goes stale in a game and become trigger-happy with his starting quarterback? Or will patience be an ally in an effort to create stability?

Stefanski is quite comfortable with Case Keenum entrenched as Mayfield’s backup. That’s because the well-traveled veteran knows Stefanski’s offense and offensive philosophy well enough to help Mayfield learn it quickly.

With Keenum on board, the Browns now have their best quarterback tandem since . . . well, can’t remember when. There is a certain degree of comfort Stefanski has should Mayfield be unable to play for whatever reason. The drop-off in talent will be negligible.

All Stefanski wants from Mayfield this season (should there be a season) is to be the antithesis of the gunslinger of 2018 and 2019. Be the caretaker of the offense. Minimize mistakes. Do not beat yourself. It’s that simple.

His run-first philosophy is designed with that in mind. And with talents like Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt running behind an improved offensive line, Mayfield will come nowhere close to facing the kind of pressure he experienced last season with a dim-witted offense.

Now it will be up to him to back up his normal braggadocio with positive results, not the kind that led to a disastrous 2019, which left him uncharacteristically humbled.

Keenum, if Stefanski so chooses, probably will be the so-called quarantine quarterback, the guy in the bubble, shielded from the virus and ready to take over at a moment’s notice should the occasion arise.

Garrett Gilbert, who backed up Mayfield last season, most likely will be the third quarterback this season unless Stefanski chooses to gamble and go with just two quarterbacks.

If so, Gilbert and rookie free agent Kevin Davidson, who is merely training camp fodder for the time being, will battle it out to land on the practice squad.

Next: Running backs

Buckle up for the unknown

In about 24 hours, the most interesting and daring experiment in the history of the National Football League will commence.

Summer training camps will open Tuesday for 30 of the league’s 32 teams as the last of the four major sports leagues in the United States steps into the 2020 battle against a global virus pandemic.

It does so with zero preparation for what lies ahead. No minicamps. No OTAs. No meetings, at least in person. It is nothing more than a virtual run-up to a season that has – and will continue to have – many, many more questions than answers.

The NFL, much like the NBA, NHL and MLB, is flying blindly and defiantly into the unknown against an enemy that has confounded a planet. All in the name of returning to some sort of normalcy the way we have grown accustomed to living our lives.

The NFL has laid down a stringent set of rules for teams to adhere to in an effort to provide what it hopes will be a smooth path to Super Bowl LV (55) in Tampa, Fla., next Feb. 7.

Without going into the specifics of the protocols, training camp for the Browns starts Tuesday in Berea and lasts 41 days, concluding on Sunday, Sept.  6, exactly one week before the season opener in Baltimore.

There will be no exhibition games, agreed to in arbitration between the league and NFL Players Association in an extraordinary concession by the owners. It will be the first preseason with no games in the history of the Browns, maybe even the league.

Camp begins with COVID-19 testing and virtual meetings and concludes on Sept. 6 with padded practices (just 14), which begins with what is called a “contact integration period.”

A vast majority of teams in the league don’t have to worry about preparing for this season with strategic and tactical philosophies already in place. Adjusting to the league’s new virus protocols should not be a problem for them.

Not so with the Browns, who have a rookie head coach and brand new coaching staff. It’s going to be hard enough plugging in a whole different system on both sides of the football, let alone making certain the club adheres to the new off-the-field protocols.

Kevin Stefanski will have to be a magician to take arguably the most talented team (at least offensively) this franchise has fielded since 1999 and mold it into a winner.  Fairly or unfairly, much will be expected of him and his staff.

Establishing a winning culture is hard enough to begin with, especially with this franchise in the last two decades. Doing so with a team he has never coached before is a challenge that might take more than one or two seasons to achieve.

Among the new protocols are strict social behaviors. Players will be urged to stay at home when not practicing. No indoors nightclubs. No indoors parties. No indoors concerts. In other words, no fun. All in the interest of staying safe from the virus.

The league is determined to beat this virus. Caving to the NFLPA’s demands to cancel all exhibitions is a sign it will cooperate to the nth degree to pull this off.

That, and the pandemic, definitely make this one of the most interesting and fascinating seasons in the history of this storied league.

A bad feeling

The pandemic that has created a new normal in the last several months seems to be affecting my thought patterns. No, I haven’t tested positive for COVID-19. In fact, I haven’t been tested at all.

By taking self-quarantining to exaggerated levels, I discovered relatively early that I miss my sports. Shocking, I know. Professional basketball and hockey seasons were interrupted. Major League baseball shut down midway through spring training

The National Football League has thus far escaped what lies ahead due to exquisite timing. It closed down at the onset of the virus after the Super Bowl. More on that situation later.

The loss of sports in my world is what’s messing with the aforementioned thoughts. I worry their attempts to come back will not end well. Color me skeptical that those sports will not reach the finish line. After all, I’ve got a reputation to live up (down?) to.

I’m a glass half empty guy. Have been for as long as I can remember. I do not have a good feeling about this at all.  It’s a feeling I wish I didn’t have.

This enemy is like a ghost. It is stealthy, relentless, virulent and deadly. You cannot see it. At least with the naked eye. It can be seen only when placed under a microscope. And it’s showing no signs of going away anytime soon.

The NBA and NHL, in seeming desperation, will conduct their playoffs in a bubble in an attempt to achieve closure to their respective seasons. They have thrown down the gauntlet to the virus. So, too, have MLB and the NFL.

I believe it will fail on all fronts despite stringent protocols to stave off the inevitable. In baseball, for example, there will be no high fives, no hugs and no spitting.

In the NFL, post-game hugs and jersey trading are prohibited. What’s next? A ban on gang tackling? After playing 60 minutes of in-your-face football, it’s nonsensical to legislate against those traditional post-game activities. Players are mocking the decision.

As for game officials, it’s all but set: NFL officials (average age 53 years old) will wear facemasks in the performance of their duties. It’s anyone’s guess what else is in store.

The amount of work required keeping every team healthy for an extended period of time is more hopeful than anything else. Each team will need to walk a razor-thin line in order to prevent a team outbreak.

All it will take to seriously rethink the situation is one team outbreak of the highly contagious virus. The odds of accomplishing that on a league-wide basis have to be astronomical.

Players in the NBA, NHL and MLB have also been given the option of opting out of the competition, in some cases because they do not want to gamble they will catch the virus. Others are for more personal reasons. Most are veterans who have been well compensated..

The NFL is negotiating with the players association with regard to the opt-out and has yet to come to an agreement. The league has already taken steps to head off possible trouble by cancelling the Hall of Fame game and first and fourth exhibition games.

Players have indicated they would not be unhappy if the entire exhibition slate is scrubbed, preferring to prepare for the regular season with an extended training camp that might include intra-squad scrimmages.

Baseball’s truncated 60-game regular season, scheduled to begin later this month, will provide the earliest indicators as to whether this whole exercise in avoidance will actually work.

Considering the strict protocols set forth by the various sports, I’m having a difficult time believing it will work. This pandemic has wiped out all in its path thus far and shows no signs of relenting. If anything, it is gaining strength,

And here is the worst part. Scientists predict phase two of the virus, a more virulent strain, is inevitable when the weather cools down in the fall, significantly affecting baseball and football. That’s an ominous sign, considering phase one of the pandemic has yet to be tamed.

Social distancing will be the greatest deterrent in all sports. The very nature of basketball, hockey, baseball and football dictate the antithesis. Contact is inevitable. With football, in particular, the idea of social distancing is laughable.

Football is not a contact sport. It is a collision sport. No protocol can cancel out that fact. And because of that, the notion the league actually believes it can squeeze in a 17-week regular season and a postseason is folly.

In order to keep at last six feet apart, will offensive linemen correctly social distance themselves from each other? Can you imagine line splits of seven and eight feet? Right there, social distancing flies out the door.

As we get closer to the start of the NFL season, unforeseen little bumps in the road will emerge that need to be smoothed out. For example, some players are pushing back against the use of vinyl face shields as a deterrent to the virus,

The big difference now is NFL players, quite likely for the first time in their careers, realize they are targets for a deadly virus that is indiscriminate in whom it strikes. The fact it is contagious adds to the fear.

Injuries have always been part of the sports, but much more likely in the NFL. They are a known and accepted hazard to the profession. This virus quite likely will exacerbate the situation.

So will the game be played differently as a result in the NFL? More cautiously, perhaps? Of course not. It wouldn’t be football if they did. That’s what makes this all the more intriguing.

I can’t stop thinking something will go terribly wrong in all four sports in the attempt to pull off the impossible in the face of this pandemic. An outbreak can occur at any time in any of the four sports. All it takes is one to seriously consider a shutdown.

My feeling – and I hope I am wrong about all this in so many ways – is this calendar year, I fear, will go down in history as the year sports surrendered to an unknown enemy and robbed its fans of so much escapist pleasure.

So color me extremely skeptical that by the end of this year, sports fans will have an NBA champion, Stanley Cup champion, World Series winner and an NFL playoff season to look forward to.

The year 2020 is teetering on the brink of becoming the year the sports world was completely brought to its knees by an unseen foe. And there was nothing that could be done to stop it.