Voters are betting on Mayfield even more enthusiastically than they bet on Watson and Jimmy Garoppolo one year ago, when those quarterbacks made their QB Tiers debuts after starting less than one full season. Voters think Mayfield has what it takes to reach the top tier.
“I put on the tape and watched his whole season, and I’m like: ‘OK, this guy is special. I see what all the fuss is about,’” an offensive coach said. “He can do everything — no limitations at all schematically. For him to take the next step, he has to be a little bit smarter with the football, which comes with experience. I think he will get there.”
No voters placed Mayfield in the top tier.
“He will be a 1, if not this coming season, the season after,” a coach with AFC North ties said. “His mentality is like the 1s. He can handle his s—. He can direct the traffic. He can handle personalities. It is not too big for him. He doesn’t have to overcome anything in the intangible area to play. It is just a matter of the timing and the footwork and those things to catch up to what he already is mentally, which is great.”
Mayfield got 30 votes in the second tier and 21 in the third. The four fourth-tier votes for Mayfield came from voters who thought there wasn’t enough information yet.
“I think Baker is a 2 with an arrow going up,” a coordinator said. “There is just not enough evidence right now to say he’ll be a 1 because I think he is going to be a high-risk, high-reward guy. If you look at their games, Freddie (Kitchens) did a good job, but they were both playing with house money. It’ll be interesting when people see him and prepare. It will be a different deal, but I really like him.”
Multiple voters were skeptical of the Browns, pointing to other “dream team” scenarios that failed to produce the desired results. But they liked Mayfield a lot.
“I like his moxie, and on tape, when we played him, he made some throws where I took notice,” a defensive coach said. “He made a throw in the back of the end zone — I think it was against Oakland — and I was like, ‘For a rookie, for him to even see that and have the confidence to make that throw, that was a good throw.’”