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The Baker Mayfield and Cleveland Browns‘ divorce is not official. It is happening, Deshaun Watson made sure of that almost a week ago by signing a $230 million dollar fully guaranteed contract. There are many reasons this happened, all of which have been discussed at length by every pundit ad nauseum for the last few days. However, something interesting started happening when Mary Kay Cabot and Adam Schefter started beating the war drums that if Mayfield was cut, the Pittsburgh Steelers would pounce on him. Rumor and innuendo, and the national talking heads took off with it. Nick Wright, Skip Bayless, any one of the endless talking heads ESPN rolls out at this point, and multiple others spouting their opinions on how the Steelers should go after Mayfield and how he would be a clear upgrade to what they have on the roster currently. We speculate a lot in the off-season. I don’t blame anyone for speculating, but I am wondering why it isn’t framed as the Steelers should have interest instead of “they are ready to pounce.” The one thing we haven’t heard is why. Specifically, does it make football sense?
Baker Mayfield is 6 foot 1 inches tall and yes, over a four-year period has thrown 92 touchdowns. He has also thrown 56 interceptions, done an endless parade of commercials, alienated his teammates and apparently the Browns organization. The same organization that was just a few months ago intent on blaming Odell Beckham Jr. for Baker’s struggles and unceremoniously cut him. OBJ went on to be a key cog in the Los Angeles Rams Super Bowl run and was making a case for MVP of the game before a freak injury. I thought he was done, I bought the malcontent hype and after watching him play in LA, I freely admit I was wrong. I hope he recovers fully and has a productive year.
This brings us back to Baker Mayfield. The Browns were wrong about OBJ and have now realized they were wrong about him. We have all heard the knocks at this point, with the biggest caveat that he is immature. He certainly proved that point with his reaction prior to the Watson signing demanding a trade and indicating to anyone who would listen he wanted to go to the Indianapolis Colts. The Colts responded by trading a third-round pick for Matt Ryan and his more than double Baker Mayfield salary. “Matty Ice” may not be the best leader in football, but he is a pro’s pro and has had a fine career. Baker then made sure today that everyone knew that the Carolina Panthers disinterest was mutual. He did not want to play for them, which is good because they don’t want him.
Which brings us to the Steelers, who are currently in the Mitch Trubisky restoration business. Trubisky, despite his troubles in Chicago, was well liked by his teammates. He handled being benched like a pro, and when called upon again, he played okay, but the writing was on the wall. Like a pro, he took his adversity in stride and headed to the Buffalo Bills to back up Josh Allen and learn from a quarterback who was younger than he was, but by all accounts, was a good team player. It is hard not to root for Mitch Trubisky to play well, but if he doesn’t, I have no doubt he will be a pro and support whatever decision the coaching staff makes. He may not be great, but he will be a Steeler.
Baker Mayfield, however, does not seem ready for a second act as a starter. I think the Browns are perfectly willing to accept that Deshaun Watson will get a 6-8 game suspension that may be appealed and reduced to 4-6 games. If he acted like a pro, like Jimmy Garoppolo in San Francisco, I think they would have used those games to showcase Baker Mayfield and improve their bargaining position. If he played well, they might have gotten the first rounder they are hoping to get for him. Instead, he took to Twitter and demanded a trade. 31 other NFL teams knew Cleveland could not bring him back even if they wanted to try, and unsurprisingly the trade market has gone dry. It reminds me of when Kordell Stewart was benched late in his tenure with the Steelers. Luckily Twitter didn’t exist at the time so Kordell could not rant unfettered to Steeler Nation, but it was obvious he was sulking and ultimately led to the plucky Tommy Maddox era. Steelers don’t sulk. Strike One
Baker Mayfield has played behind the best offensive line in the division and arguably the NFL for four years. However, he has been sacked 134 times going 29-30 during that time. He does less with more. He holds the ball, thinking he can escape pressure, but he is not athletic enough to play the style he tries to play on Sundays. By comparison, since his return from injury, Ben Roethlisberger was sacked 51 times in the last two years with 55 touchdowns and 20 interceptions behind what was not a top 20 offensive line. Roethlisberger went 21-10 over the 31 games he played. Baker Mayfield during the same time frame went 17-13 and was sacked 69 times with 43 touchdowns and 21 interceptions. The Steelers don’t currently need a quarterback who is an easier target to sack, and if you take away one good season, is 18-25 for his career. Steelers do more with less. Strike Two
Baker Mayfield is due almost $19 million dollars for the 2022 season in a contract year. Just for argument’s sake with his ego, if he were to play well win 8-10 games and have a solid statistical year, is there any doubt he would demand a top of market deal? The Steelers projected starter Trubisky can earn a total of $27 million with incentives over the next two years. If they signed Baker, they would at the very least be renting him for one year before they would have to make a long-term expensive decision. That is not how the Steelers do business. Strike Three
I am sorry, but Baker Mayfield is out in Pittsburgh. At least I hope he is. Frankly, I would rather roll with Chris Boswell at quarterback, but I don’t make personnel decisions for the Pittsburgh Steelers and thank God neither does the national press. Tomorrow is another day and now that Tyreek Hill is in Miami, maybe they can start beating the drum for Baker Mayfield in Miami. That is one quarterback I wouldn’t mind losing to the Dolphins.
What do you think, Steeler Nation? Please comment below or hit me up on Twitter or Instagram @thebubbasq.
Support SteelerNation by clicking here to read the story..
Baker Mayfield is 6 foot 1 inches tall and yes, over a four-year period has thrown 92 touchdowns. He has also thrown 56 interceptions, done an endless parade of commercials, alienated his teammates and apparently the Browns organization. The same organization that was just a few months ago intent on blaming Odell Beckham Jr. for Baker’s struggles and unceremoniously cut him. OBJ went on to be a key cog in the Los Angeles Rams Super Bowl run and was making a case for MVP of the game before a freak injury. I thought he was done, I bought the malcontent hype and after watching him play in LA, I freely admit I was wrong. I hope he recovers fully and has a productive year.
This brings us back to Baker Mayfield. The Browns were wrong about OBJ and have now realized they were wrong about him. We have all heard the knocks at this point, with the biggest caveat that he is immature. He certainly proved that point with his reaction prior to the Watson signing demanding a trade and indicating to anyone who would listen he wanted to go to the Indianapolis Colts. The Colts responded by trading a third-round pick for Matt Ryan and his more than double Baker Mayfield salary. “Matty Ice” may not be the best leader in football, but he is a pro’s pro and has had a fine career. Baker then made sure today that everyone knew that the Carolina Panthers disinterest was mutual. He did not want to play for them, which is good because they don’t want him.
Which brings us to the Steelers, who are currently in the Mitch Trubisky restoration business. Trubisky, despite his troubles in Chicago, was well liked by his teammates. He handled being benched like a pro, and when called upon again, he played okay, but the writing was on the wall. Like a pro, he took his adversity in stride and headed to the Buffalo Bills to back up Josh Allen and learn from a quarterback who was younger than he was, but by all accounts, was a good team player. It is hard not to root for Mitch Trubisky to play well, but if he doesn’t, I have no doubt he will be a pro and support whatever decision the coaching staff makes. He may not be great, but he will be a Steeler.
Baker Mayfield, however, does not seem ready for a second act as a starter. I think the Browns are perfectly willing to accept that Deshaun Watson will get a 6-8 game suspension that may be appealed and reduced to 4-6 games. If he acted like a pro, like Jimmy Garoppolo in San Francisco, I think they would have used those games to showcase Baker Mayfield and improve their bargaining position. If he played well, they might have gotten the first rounder they are hoping to get for him. Instead, he took to Twitter and demanded a trade. 31 other NFL teams knew Cleveland could not bring him back even if they wanted to try, and unsurprisingly the trade market has gone dry. It reminds me of when Kordell Stewart was benched late in his tenure with the Steelers. Luckily Twitter didn’t exist at the time so Kordell could not rant unfettered to Steeler Nation, but it was obvious he was sulking and ultimately led to the plucky Tommy Maddox era. Steelers don’t sulk. Strike One
Baker Mayfield has played behind the best offensive line in the division and arguably the NFL for four years. However, he has been sacked 134 times going 29-30 during that time. He does less with more. He holds the ball, thinking he can escape pressure, but he is not athletic enough to play the style he tries to play on Sundays. By comparison, since his return from injury, Ben Roethlisberger was sacked 51 times in the last two years with 55 touchdowns and 20 interceptions behind what was not a top 20 offensive line. Roethlisberger went 21-10 over the 31 games he played. Baker Mayfield during the same time frame went 17-13 and was sacked 69 times with 43 touchdowns and 21 interceptions. The Steelers don’t currently need a quarterback who is an easier target to sack, and if you take away one good season, is 18-25 for his career. Steelers do more with less. Strike Two
Baker Mayfield is due almost $19 million dollars for the 2022 season in a contract year. Just for argument’s sake with his ego, if he were to play well win 8-10 games and have a solid statistical year, is there any doubt he would demand a top of market deal? The Steelers projected starter Trubisky can earn a total of $27 million with incentives over the next two years. If they signed Baker, they would at the very least be renting him for one year before they would have to make a long-term expensive decision. That is not how the Steelers do business. Strike Three
I am sorry, but Baker Mayfield is out in Pittsburgh. At least I hope he is. Frankly, I would rather roll with Chris Boswell at quarterback, but I don’t make personnel decisions for the Pittsburgh Steelers and thank God neither does the national press. Tomorrow is another day and now that Tyreek Hill is in Miami, maybe they can start beating the drum for Baker Mayfield in Miami. That is one quarterback I wouldn’t mind losing to the Dolphins.
What do you think, Steeler Nation? Please comment below or hit me up on Twitter or Instagram @thebubbasq.
Support SteelerNation by clicking here to read the story..
