Baker Mayfield: Fire The Cannons

[Amherstcavsfan]

Great breakdown on Baker that Jordan Zirm just released while I was yammering on.

Perfect.

I went back to see, and I found Jake Burns on this one:


19 in one year, 5 since.

I think his teams have reigned him in too much.

 

[Los216]

Baker could entertain all he wants, but it doesn't matter: Browns hold all the leverage. Only thing Baker could do is sit out.

Or both sides could agree to look for a new home. It could go down like that without being messy.

One thing I wanted to mention was The Patriots were the team that was rumored to try and trade up for Baker in the draft. Their FO has guys in charge who came from New England. I am not saying that it will happen but when you start thinking about QB's parting ways with their teams the first place to look is to teams that have FO connections with that QB.

The Texans don't have a 1st round pick so even if this was a rich QB draft they can't fins a viable Watson replacement. It would have to be in a Deshaun Watson trade.

Baker is a Texas Boy too.

I'm speculating by the way.

 

[Lee]

I am way beyond entertaining that old and disproven line of thinking. That was Twitter-hot last off-season.

Most X receiver routes in the NFL are option routes. People with an axe to grind want to put the option route on OBJ, no. That's how the NFL works.

It's on Baker to feed an open X receiver in an option route. Hard pass on putting it on OBJ.

I agree except if we stick with Baker, and i think we should, good but not great qb, not many other options, i think we only have room for one 5 figure WR and Landry has proven to be the more important to Baker of the 2 so i am guessing this is OBJ's last year....not fault of his own, but OBJ might be better for a different offense and team at the money he makes and frankly is worth.

 

[Los216]

Perfect.

I went back to see, and I found Jake Burns on this one:


19 in one year, 5 since.

I think his teams have reigned him in too much.

I agreed that the team reigned him in too much until I saw the tape and saw guys open and baker looking right at them. Part of me wants to think that they are coaching him to be less risky but another part of me thinks that Baker has confidence issues.

 

[bs80]

The change really came after his shoulder injury.

In the Chargers game, I only remember two downfield throws. He needs to get back into challenging the deep portion of the field a few times a game. OBJ is getting open - recently heard a stat that OBJ is open 72% of the routes past 5yards down the field - and Baker isn't taking the shot.

Baker is rattled right now because of the bad game against the Lions, so he played conservatively. I'm not saying "this is who he is now." It isn't fair. But he does need to regain some of what is in his passer DNA quick.

Vikings, not Lions!

But yeah, I'm with you in thinking the shoulder injury really got him to play more tentatively. And I believe that horrific Vikings game was way more mental than it was physical.

In the week leading up to the Chargers game, I posted that I was pretty alarmed by how poorly he played in Minnesota, but also expressed my confidence that he would figure things out with his shoulder and regain his confidence sooner rather than later. In my estimation, Baker bounced back pretty nicely just one game later -- I actually expected it to take more like two or three games for him to get to how he played in SoFi. I also believe that we can all expect his baseline play to improve even more as he's still getting used to playing with that injury.

That's why I'm personally bummed to see so much backlash toward him for a game where the offense by and large was not the reason we lost. He's still not all the way back, but I went to sleep Sunday more encouraged than I was before the game that Baker will regain his mojo. I thought he responded pretty fucking well to all the shit he got during the week.

Is the way he played against the Chargers good enough to lead us to a ring? Probably not. But should we think that he is going to keep improving as we get deeper into the season? I'd like to think so.

 

[Randolphkeys]

I agree except if we stick with Baker, and i think we should, good but not great qb, not many other options, i think we only have room for one 5 figure WR and Landry has proven to be the more important to Baker of the 2 so i am guessing this is OBJ's last year....not fault of his own, but OBJ might be better for a different offense and team at the money he makes and frankly is worth.

That's the problem. If he isn't trying to attack the deep part of the field by the end of the year, he isn't worth the money.

I value a decent game manager - that might have been my RBF mission statement before we finally scored Baker - but a game manager afraid of option routes isn't worth 30+ million a year.

What we need is for Baker to take the next step as a passer. Know when to paint by the numbers, know when to take a big shot.

 

[Sebastian]

That's the problem. If he isn't trying to attack the deep part of the field by the end of the year, he isn't worth the money.

I value a decent game manager - that might have been my RBF mission statement before we finally scored Baker - but a game manager afraid of option routes isn't worth 30+ million a year.

What we need is for Baker to take the next step as a passer. Know when to paint by the numbers, know when to take a big shot.

 

[Vee-Rex]

You're making this more than what it is. I simply said that on that Sunday in Minnesota I would've rather seen us play Case Keenum if Baker was in the condition that he was in. You're asking me if I would've rather played our backup instead of our injured starting QB and my answer is yes. I think Case Keenum would've won that game on Sunday. You're acting like if Keenum played that game that MIN would've blown us out. We won despite Baker having his worst game ever. I think Case Keenum would've been better on that day. How is that ridiculous?

I don't know if you're lying, or think this is snapchat or something and the thread doesn't keep posts. This is false. I explicitly asked you if you would retroactively eliminate the win vs. the Vikings and replay the game to start Keenum instead of Baker. You said yes.

You:

I know I'm going in on Baker this morning but if Case Keenum plays yesterday instead of Baker we easily score 30 points. Odell has 150+ yards and 3 TD's. The game isn't close

Me:

Just curious... if you could push the restart button and play the game over with Case Keenum starting, would you do it? Assume everything else (such as defense, special teams, running game, etc...) remains equal and the only difference is the QBs.

You:

Considering the opponent and the location yes I would've started Case Keenum is baker's shoulder was limiting him. That game was tailor made for Case Keenum to step in if Baker was too hurt to play. Case Keenum knows the offense and he played in Minnesota so I don't think that game yesterday would've rattled him at all.

Me:

No, I mean RIGHT NOW, would you restart the game? Everything else is equal - offense, defense, special teams, injuries, etc... the only difference is that Case Keenum is starting instead of Baker.

If you're sure Keenum would deliver big and give Baker a week's rest, then you would, right?

You:

Yes

Me:

The fact that you would erase a W off the win column gave me everything I needed to know. I know not to further engage.

You:

Was Baker the reason we won that game yesterday?

 

[ShawnKempIsMyDad]

I think what people are also failing to realize is that he’s playing hurt. This is the same injury that Trevor Lawrence had surgery for in the off-season and Baker is playing through it. He’s not attacking the deep part of the field because he’s not healthy. He might need to sit for a bit honestly. Get healthy and come back.

 

[Bkerr02]

I think this is the game where Baker quiets the haters this week. Arizona is no doubt going to stack the box big time like they did against Tennessee earlier this year. There secondary is not very good outside of Buddha Baker. Stefanski I’m sure is watching a lot of that Tennessee game tape and I expect him to be aggressive early taking some shots down the field to open up the run game in the second half.

 

[Deep Pockets]

I'm just trying to keep things realistic... I like Baker and don't really care how many games it takes to realize his potential. If he leaves I'd be willing to wager he will be extremely successful... but that is my admitted I like Baker fandom
From a replacement perspective no one better than Baker is available and I'm not talking statistically I'm talking the QB position right now.... the only one even worth a mention is Watson but if I recall he's still got ongoing legal ish. If we wanted someone better than Baker we are pretty much looking at successful teams that are willing to forgo this year it doesn't make sense

 

[bigfoot5415]

I think what people are also failing to realize is that he’s playing hurt. This is the same injury that Trevor Lawrence had surgery for in the off-season and Baker is playing through it. He’s not attacking the deep part of the field because he’s not healthy. He might need to sit for a bit honestly. Get healthy and come back.

Unfortunately sitting won't fix this.

 

[bs80]

I'm just trying to keep things realistic... I like Baker and don't really care how many games it takes to realize his potential. If he leaves I'd be willing to wager he will be extremely successful... but that is my admitted I like Baker fandom

I love Baker and remain cautiously optimistic that he's our franchise guy. But if Berry and Stefanski choose to head in a different direction, I wouldn't bet that he finds more success elsewhere. He is in a very QB friendly situation, which has become one of the knocks on him. I'd bet on Stefanski and company to get the best out of Baker than any other coaching staff that would possibly end up with Baker.

From a replacement perspective no one better than Baker is available and I'm not talking statistically I'm talking the QB position right now.... the only one even worth a mention is Watson but if I recall he's still got ongoing legal ish. If we wanted someone better than Baker we are pretty much looking at successful teams that are willing to forgo this year it doesn't make sense

The Aaron Rodgers situation is also worth mentioning. But in general I agree that it is extremely unlikely that we will be able to upgrade at QB. Even if there happened to be a stud QB prospect in the draft, I don't think I'd want to go in that direction given the shape of our current roster.

 

[CBBI]

For his career, Baker Mayfield has gotten the ball in the 4th quarter within 1 possession either direction of his opponent 67 times. Here are the results (removing kneel downs)

23 Punts
20 Touchdowns
9 Turnovers
9 Failed 4th Downs
5 Made Field Goals
1 Missed Field Goal

Patrick Mahomes has gotten the ball in the 4th quarter within 1 possession either direction of his opponent 64 times. Here are the results (removing kneel downs)

25 touchdowns
19 punts
12 made field goals
4 turnovers
2 missed field goals
2 failed 4th downs

 

[Deep Pockets]

I love Baker and remain cautiously optimistic that he's our franchise guy. But if Berry and Stefanski choose to head in a different direction, I wouldn't bet that he finds more success elsewhere. He is in a very QB friendly situation, which has become one of the knocks on him. I'd bet on Stefanski and company to get the best out of Baker than any other coaching staff that would possibly end up with Baker.


The Aaron Rodgers situation is also worth mentioning. But in general I agree that it is extremely unlikely that we will be able to upgrade at QB. Even if there happened to be a stud QB prospect in the draft, I don't think I'd want to go in that direction given the shape of our current roster.

Right? But also does QB need an upgrade? Not saying baker is the best QB in 30 years but look we have THE #1 run game in the league the #1 offensive line in the league. Despite last week a budding defense .. of course it would be great to have the #1 pass offense but this isn't Madden.

Notice Mahomes has a piss poor defense and no running attack... a team is built based on balance and what an organization is willing to prioritize and what it is willing to risk... thats all. Not saying he is the best but to expect the best on top of what we have is just crazy.