Mid-week thoughts

Confession time. When John Dorsey selected Oklahoma University quarterback Baker Mayfield with the No. 1 selection in the entire National Football League college draft on April 26, 2018, I gulped.

Despite rumors that floated around prior to the draft that suggested the Browns' general manager would do just that, I chose to ignore them. Too many other better (and taller) quarterbacks were available and more ready to make the transition to the NFL.

I kept my thoughts to myself, figuring I might be wrong and maybe Dorsey saw something I hadn't. The selection was chiseled. There was nothing I or anyone in the media could do but accept it and let that be Dorsey's legacy one way or the other from a historic standpoint as Mayfield's career unfolded. 

We are now just about halfway through season three of the Baker Mayfield era in Cleveland and the hounds are beginning to snipe as his professional football career is not shaping up as Dorsey had originally envisioned.

The former general manager, who was dismissed shortly after the conclusion of the 2019 season, saw a young Brett Favre in Mayfield. He was a fighter. He was a winner. He had what it took to come right in and take the Browns to heights not seen in Cleveland in more than 30 years. 

The flashes of potential greatness we all witnessed in his rookie season in 2018 have become tarnished with far too many displays of mediocrity since. If anything, head coach Kevin Stefanski's more conservative offense revolves more around the other parts of the offense than his quarterback.

Mayfield has become skittish, uncertain and alarmingly indecisive in the pocket. His lack of pocket awareness is detrimental  to what Stefanski expects from his quarterback. Unless he rolls Mayfield out on bootlegs or play-action misdirection, he is a liability as a passer.

Mayfield supporters blame it on instability. Stefanski is his fourth head coach (Hue Jackson, Gregg Williams and Freddie Kitchens) in less than three seasons. And Alex Van Pelt is his fourth offensive coordinator (Todd Haley, Kitchens and Todd Monken). 

He is not the same quarterback we all saw back in 2018. What I saw that season leaned me toward what Dorsey saw as the smallish rookie set a league record for touchdown passes in one season with 27. He made throws I hadn't seen from a Cleveland quarterback since Bernie Kosar.

He squeezed passes into what seemed like air-tight windows with surprising accuracy. His deep passes were extraordinarily delivered in stride. He took command of the huddle the moment he entered it midway through the second quarter of game three of the 2018 season against the New York Jets in relief of injured starter Tyrod Taylor. 

A national television audience watched the Browns overcome a 14-3 halftime deficit and rally for a 21-17 victory. Mayfield did not look like a rookie. He did not act like a rookie. His swagger became his brand. He was almost too good to be true.

Remember what he said after the Browns snapped a four-game losing streak in week 10 with a 28-16 home victory over Atlanta after completing 17 of 20 passes and throwing three touchdown passes? "When I woke up this morning," he said, "I was feeling pretty dangerous." 

The Browns are on their way, fans thought. The franchise quarterback has finally arrived after all these years. He could be the next Russell Wilson or Drew Brees, smallish NFL quarterbacks who overcame a seeming height problem to become future Hall of Famers.

And then 2019 happened. Kitchens, who had taken over as offensive coordinator following the firings of Jackson and Haley midway through the 2018 season, became the head coach (another Dorsey stunner). And that's when Mayfield's career began to plunge.

After a disappointing 6-10 season in 2019, a season that saw Kitchens as the de facto offensive coordinator and playcaller undo all the good Mayfield had accomplished the previous season. He became erratic and threw as many picks as he did touchdowns passes.

The free-wheeling Kitchens was let go and the much more conservative Stefanski arrived. He inherited Mayfield, who was not his type of quarterback. His offense is not predicated on the forward pass. He's much more close to the vest. When the Browns run well, the Browns win. They have run well on four occasions this season. That is why they are 4-2.

The Browns thus far this season have defined themselves as a team that can -- and should -- knock off teams they should knock off. Resounding losses to Baltimore and Pittsburgh quickly dispelled the notion they were now ready to step up and join the big boys.

They have defined themselves as a team that can -- and should -- knock off teams they should knock off. Resounding losses to Baltimore and Pittsburgh quickly dispelled the notion they were now ready to step up and join the big boys.

Mayfield was lamenting the fact the other day that Browns Nation did not take kindly to last Sunday's 38-7 drubbing in Pittsburgh, a verdict not received well by the fans because it was PITTSBURGH! "The feeling throughout (the Browns') building after that loss, 4-2 has never felt so much like 0-6 before," he said. He still doesn't understand the meaning of losing to the Steelers.

Baker Mayfield has become an ordinary quarterback. He has thrown 32 touchdown passes and 27 interceptions, including four in the last two games, since that solid rookie season. You don't draft quarterbacks with the top overall selection and be satisfied when they prove to be ordinary. He has become anything but dangerous.

Right now it appears Stefanski is attempting to turn the former gunslinger into a game manager. Sort of don't-do-anything-stupid football. Some people would interpret that as attempting to turn Mayfield into something he isn't and doesn't want to be.

The Browns are talented enough on offense -- and will be even more-so when Nick Chubb returns -- to defeat teams with lesser talent. And considering they have recorded only one winning season in the last 21, that might good enough for now.

But if Stefanski envisions his new team eventually climbing to the heights of the NFL elite from a performance standpoint, it might require a different quarterback. Unless, of course, Mayfield acquiesces and embraces the role of game manager.

The Browns' front office needs to think long and hard between now and next spring when they have a decision to make on what to do with Mayfield's fifth-year option. The distinct possibility they might not exercise it is not out of the question.