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Baker Mayfield: Fire The Cannons

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Bruce Gradkowski - a former Browns QB but who isn't - ranked Baker 10th quarterback in the NFL going into the season:


Feel free to comment/throw shade.
Rankings seem about right. I could nitpick some things, like Matt Ryan being too high, there being too much of a gap between Lamar Jackson and Kyler Murray, or his generally low rankings of the first and second year QB's, but at least there's reason for those arguments.

Fanbases that have the largest reasons to be upset with these rankings would be the Colts and the Chargers.
 
Bruce Gradkowski - a former Browns QB but who isn't - ranked Baker 10th quarterback in the NFL going into the season:


Feel free to comment/throw shade.
Matt Ryan should not be that high, he should swap spots with Stafford, I think Allen should be a couple spots lower.

I also think the difference between 6-10 is super thin.

Constructively, the final placement of those guys' seasons will hinge on their health and the health of their offense.

Baker could easily finish the season as #6, or maybe #5.
 
I’m really interested to see what he’ll ultimately become with the most continuity he’s had since college. How couldn’t you be?
 
My dvr has been recording everything with Browns in the title, and it recorded the Bills game in 2019 when Freddie was our coach. I'm only thru 3 quarters - but it was that game where we had 7 opportunities to punch it in from inside the 2 yard line. Plays being brought in late - lining up with under 5 seconds on clock. Baker was literally yelling at Freddie after a series from the field cuz he was so late. Then when he came to the sidelines he gave Freddie the business and Freddie tried to come back but an Assistant stopped him. Just a bunch of BS from that season that put Baker in no position to shine. This was week 8 that season, so presumably we should have been ticking, especially with Freddie being with Baker the prior year. What a crock of a season.
 
I rewatched some of that KC playoff game and he made some great throws and reads. Really looking forward to his progression next year
He didn't have a great game but he didn't have a bad game at all. Many of his passes were from shotgun as well. The offense was stagnant due to some key dropped passes, the defense being unable to get off the field (the drive before the half the Chiefs committed 425908324 penalties AND STILL was getting first downs), and some questionable play-calling by Stefanski. The first half wasn't Stefanski's greatest half but I think another 6 minutes or so and we win that game. I thought Woods called a good game but the lack of talent on defense killed it for us.

One thing I've noticed from terrible defenders over the years that annoy me so much... when you play zone, play the ZONE. Don't plant yourself in one spot and just hope the QB throws it into your chest. If there is only one receiver in your area SHADOW him until he's completely out of your zone. Some of the passes Mahomes completed against our secondary was because a dude would let the receiver run right next to him and catch a pass without being harassed. Guys just standing around and reacting late as hell to the play being developed.

I REALLY hope guys like JJ3, Delpit, JOK, etc.. will fix that for us.
 
My dvr has been recording everything with Browns in the title, and it recorded the Bills game in 2019 when Freddie was our coach. I'm only thru 3 quarters - but it was that game where we had 7 opportunities to punch it in from inside the 2 yard line. Plays being brought in late - lining up with under 5 seconds on clock. Baker was literally yelling at Freddie after a series from the field cuz he was so late. Then when he came to the sidelines he gave Freddie the business and Freddie tried to come back but an Assistant stopped him. Just a bunch of BS from that season that put Baker in no position to shine. This was week 8 that season, so presumably we should have been ticking, especially with Freddie being with Baker the prior year. What a crock of a season.
What's crazy is that 3 or 4 of those attempts were toss plays to Chubb. Freddie just thought he would fool them by doing different variations of the same play. It was mind-boggling.

And when I watched some of the 2019 offense I see some creativity in the design. There were some well designed plays in that offense but the application of those plays were often terrible. As you mentioned, plays being brought in late, plays that weren't practiced, no structure to the offense, and no intentional scheme on a weekly basis. Just a blob of different plays run at weird times and Freddie making head-scratching decisions (like going 5-wide with backup offensive linemen while backed up in the endzone) on a regular basis.

2019 heavily stunted Baker's growth and it's unfortunate that fans and media came down so hard on QB1.
 
A full year in the books coupled with a mostly normal off-season is going to do wonders for Baker. If I read somewhere else correctly, this will be the first time since Baker was in High School that he's had the same offensive coordinator in back to back seasons.

I've been critical of Baker when he's had some bad games/throws, but I am fully on the train that he is going to take a large leap this year in productivity.
 
A full year in the books coupled with a mostly normal off-season is going to do wonders for Baker. If I read somewhere else correctly, this will be the first time since Baker was in High School that he's had the same offensive coordinator in back to back seasons.

I've been critical of Baker when he's had some bad games/throws, but I am fully on the train that he is going to take a large leap this year in productivity.
that might be true about offensive coordinator, but the OC wasnt calling the plays at OU when baker was there. Lincoln Riley has called the plays at OU since he arrived. However this will be the first time since Baker's junior of college that he hasnt changed systems in the offseason.
 
A full year in the books coupled with a mostly normal off-season is going to do wonders for Baker. If I read somewhere else correctly, this will be the first time since Baker was in High School that he's had the same offensive coordinator in back to back seasons.

I've been critical of Baker when he's had some bad games/throws, but I am fully on the train that he is going to take a large leap this year in productivity.

I am not so sure it will be a large leap, it will be about the same as his 2nd half was last year. that would be 4k yards, 22td's and 2 ints with 64% completion.

That included the bad weather games, he will have 1 of those, but not 3 like last year

So I say 4,000 yards, 30tds 6 ints 67% completion. With our running game that will be nice. He will lose redzone TD's to our backfield, they are just too good to not run the ball and they will score, wont need a ton of fades, but will have some.
 
I am not so sure it will be a large leap, it will be about the same as his 2nd half was last year. that would be 4k yards, 22td's and 2 ints with 64% completion.

That included the bad weather games, he will have 1 of those, but not 3 like last year

So I say 4,000 yards, 30tds 6 ints 67% completion. With our running game that will be nice. He will lose redzone TD's to our backfield, they are just too good to not run the ball and they will score, wont need a ton of fades, but will have some.
I mean. That’s a great season. Like many have said, I feel we are about to recalibrate expectations here as legit contenders. We aren’t super bowl favorites but our team culture and expectations, and realistic fan expectations (barring no major injuries) should be win at least one playoff game.
 

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