Book Excerpt
From Why Can’t This Team Just Find a Quarterback?, by Terry Pluto
Baker Mayfield.
Just mentioning the name angers many Browns fans.
They’re not upset at Mayfield.
It’s the Browns.
What if . . . the Browns had just kept Mayfield?
What if . . . the Browns had just been patient with Mayfield, given him a chance to have shoulder surgery and come back healthy in 2022?
What if . . . the Browns never signed Deshaun Watson and didn’t trade all the draft picks, etc.? (That’s right, keeping Mayfield would have meant no Watson in Cleveland.)
Baker Mayfield had a lot of fans in Cleveland, despite his rocky 2021 season (detailed in a previous chapter).
Think about Mayfield’s four seasons in Cleveland.
He went through four head coaches (Hue Jackson, Gregg Williams, Freddie Kitchens and Kevin Stefanski). He had four offensive coordinators (Todd Haley, Kitchens, Todd Monken and Alex Van Pelt).
Despite all the coaching chaos—and a significant shoulder injury in 2021—he still had a 29-30 record as a starter. He ranked behind only Otto Graham, Brian Sipe and Bernie Kosar in all-time passing yardage by Browns quarterbacks.
Many Browns fans wonder why the team continued to play Mayfield when he was bothered with an injured (non-throwing) left shoulder. That shoulder eventually required surgery after the season.
And why not give him another chance in 2022 after the operation?
That’s a legitimate question. The Browns told me they would indeed have done that had Watson not become available. But Houston wanted to dump Watson, and Watson inspired in the Browns visions of Super Bowl grandeur despite all of his flaws.
Three years after Watson signed with the Browns and Mayfield was traded to Carolina, one of those two quarterbacks had led his team to a pair of playoff appearances.
Three years later . . . One of those two quarterbacks had been to the Pro Bowl—twice.
Three years later . . . The decision to trade for and sign Watson to the rich contract looked even worse for Cleveland—because of what Mayfield has done in that span.
* * *
After the Browns signed Watson, they traded Mayfield to Carolina for a fifth-round draft pick.
Mayfield’s career was in trouble.
Why say that? The Browns offered him all over the NFL, and only Carolina was willing to take a chance on him. (And that was mostly because the Browns basically gave him away and paid $10 million of his $18.8 million salary).
The Browns had offered Mayfield to Houston in the Watson deal. The Texans wanted no part of him. They were willing to lose a bunch of games in 2022 by basically playing with unproven quarterbacks. The idea was to secure a high draft pick.
Mayfield could have been the NFL’s version of a scratch-off lottery ticket. Really, what did any team have to lose because the Browns just wanted to unload him. But word across the NFL was that Mayfield’s ego was far larger than his talent. He also was viewed as someone who clashed with coaches. Not all of that is fair, but it hurt his trade value.
Carolina was the exception because the Panthers were 5-12. They had an 0-5 record with Cam Newton as a starter. Their other starter was Sam Darnold (4-7 record). That’s the same Sam Darnold who was the No. 3 pick in 2018—the same draft in which Mayfield was the No. 1 pick.
In 2022, Mayfield bounced from Carolina to the Los Angeles Rams. He had a 2-8 record as a starter. He threw 10 touchdown passes compared to eight interceptions. That season looked a lot like Mayfield’s dismal 2021 performance with the Browns.
Between 2021 and 2022, Mayfield had an 8-16 record as a starter with 27 touchdown passes, 21 interceptions. He was headed down the road of being a career NFL backup, drifting from team to team. After all, he went through three teams in two years.
Next stop was Tampa Bay in 2023, where he replaced . . . Tom Brady? That’s right, Tom Brady. In 2022, the Bucs were 8-9 in Brady’s final season. The Bucs signed Mayfield to a one-year contract, with $4 million guaranteed. He could earn up to $8.5 million with incentives.
It was almost a last-chance contract. It was low risk to the team, a huge drop from Mayfield’s $18.8 million salary in 2022.
The Bucs gave Mayfield a fresh start with a new team that had some talent. They were 9-8 with Mayfield in 2023. He played all 17 games. Tampa Bay made the playoffs and beat Philadelphia 32-9 in the first round.
Mayfield had a season much like he had when helping the Browns to the 2020 playoffs and a first-round victory over Pittsburgh. In that 2020 Cleveland season, Mayfield threw 26 TD passes compared to eight interceptions. He completed 63% of his passes.
For the Bucs, Mayfield threw 28 touchdown passes compared to 10 interceptions, completing 64% of his passes.
Mayfield’s supporters always believed there was a solid starting NFL quarterback inside him. He had some maturity issues. He also battled injuries. But the fact was Mayfield had some success in Cleveland. That 2020 season was terrific. Mayfield adapted to coach Kevin Stefanski’s more disciplined offense. In 2019 with Freddie Kitchens as head coach, an undisciplined Mayfield threw 21 interceptions. In 2020, that total fell to eight. His touchdown passes rose from 22 to 26.
After the 2023 season, Mayfield was headed to free agency, but Tampa Bay made sure he stayed with the team, signing him to a three-year, $100 million deal ($50 million guaranteed).
Mayfield responded in 2024, leading the Bucs to a 10-7 record and another playoff spot. He threw 41 touchdown passes. He did lead the NFL with 16 interceptions. He had a 106.8 QB rating, the highest of his career.
Mayfield also helped two Tampa offensive coordinators become head coaches. Dave Canales left Tampa after the 2023 season to become head coach of Carolina. His replacement, Liam Coen, after one season was hired in 2025 to be the head coach in Jacksonville.
Baker Mayfield, a guy whose own NFL career was in jeopardy heading into the 2023 season, suddenly became a quarterback who launched first-time head NFL coaching careers for his last two offensive coordinators.
* * *
Would Mayfield have had this success in Cleveland?
My answer is . . . I don’t know.
I do believe the Browns would have been wise to keep Mayfield for another year. That’s not a second guess. I wrote it the moment the Browns began their pursuit of Watson.
But Mayfield struggled in 2022. He went to Carolina, a lousy team. He also had some injuries. He was cut by Carolina and picked up by the Rams. He had a few nice moments for Rams head coach Sean McVay, but his record was 1-3 as a starter. The Rams did not make an effort to re-sign him even as a backup.
Tampa Bay appeared to be Mayfield’s last chance in the NFL . . . and he knew it. Always brash before, he had been humbled. He knew the Browns paid Carolina to take him. He knew that Carolina tried to trade him, and no one was interested. He knew something had to change.
“He went through a rough patch early in his career,” Tampa Bay GM Jason Licht told ESPN in an interview after the 2024 season. “But he felt like he was wanted [in Tampa Bay]. He was wanted by the head coach, the GM, the coaching staff and the players. We wanted him. There’s a psychological advantage to that once [a quarterback] feels like he’s at a place where everybody wants him.”
Most adults don’t make major changes in their lives without enduring at least some type of physical or emotional pain. Mayfield dealt with both.
What if the Browns had kept Mayfield? Hard to know if he’d have had the same success as in Tampa. But at least Cleveland would have found out—and would not have had to endure the problems his replacement brought to the franchise.
