Baker Mayfield No. 1

[DizzyDean]

1 hour ago, Aztec Hammer said:

I’m a bit worried. Seen the stats about him having the fewer batted passes but in the Ohio state game he had two batted balls in the first two drives. Senior Bowl (no big deal) he had a batted ball and got enveloped by Davenport in his limited snaps.

I’m worried that it’s going to be a problem in the pros with the bigger, faster pass rush.

We need to go all-in on the Rams/Eagles/Chiefs concepts.

I have confidence that the braintrust of Hue and Hakey will craft a great system for our team and QB.  Mayfield will have an entire year to master it ideally while he watched Taylor execute it very efficiently.  I have zero concerns right now and love out team.  I am excited to watch everything come together.

[BleedTheClock]

15 hours ago, AkronsWitness said:

He doesnt play anything like Wilson though. Wilson plays like Manziel who turned out to be good. Baker plays far more like Brees style.

I think people get too caught up in extremes. People think he is either going to be the max (Brees) or the min (Manziel). There is obviously a middle of the road there that splits both of them. I think Baker will be good, but never to the level of Brees. 

I think a guy who he could have a similar career to that is reasonable issssssssssss....... Jeff Garcia.

Why is he nothing like Wilson? He runs around to buy time for pinpoint accurate shots down the field. The only thing he doesn't really have in common with Wilson is that his athleticism, albeit still very good, isn't at the same level of Wilson's. But he doesn't win by being fast in college--he wins by knowing how to elude defenders within the pocket. He knows how to step in, loop out, shuffle, and also when to stay put. I think it's a perfectly fair comparison.

[DizzyDean]

13 minutes ago, BleedTheClock said:

Why is he nothing like Wilson? He runs around to buy time for pinpoint accurate shots down the field. The only thing he doesn't really have in common with Wilson is that his athleticism, albeit still very good, isn't at the same level of Wilson's. But he doesn't win by being fast in college--he wins by knowing how to elude defenders within the pocket. He knows how to step in, loop out, shuffle, and also when to stay put. I think it's a perfectly fair comparison.

I thoroughly believe that within a few years, all of the russel Wilson, Jeff Garcia, drew brees, and Johnny Manziel comparisons will go away and he will simply be Baker Mayfield.  We will hear the analysts in the draft talking about prospects and comparing them to Baker.  This guy is going to be an entirely different breed.

[Bernie's Curls]

1 hour ago, DizzyDean said:

I thoroughly believe that within a few years, all of the russel Wilson, Jeff Garcia, drew brees, and Johnny Manziel comparisons will go away and he will simply be Baker Mayfield.  We will hear the analysts in the draft talking about prospects and comparing them to Baker.  This guy is going to be an entirely different breed.

I can't believe I did that. Totally liked a DizzyDean post.

I also concur with Dizzy's uniqueness quip. Baker is a hard player to get a total comparable for, because he's not a archetypical QB in my estimation.

[MistaBohmbastic]

8 minutes ago, Bernie's Curls said:

I also concur with Dizzy's uniqueness quip. Baker is a hard player to get a total comparable for, because he's not a archetypical QB in my estimation.

Right, I mean...everything that those guys did in college, analytically...Baker blew them out of the water. Sure, there's elements of all their games that could be similar to Mayfield, but he has a unique combination to them. More mobility than Brees, a better arm than Wilson, etc. He's his own player. I think people reach for these comparisons like some kind of security blanket because we're desperate to know what kind of player we've got on our hands.

The reality is, this kid is special, but not in the ways that Brees or Wilson were, in his own way. His leadership and smarts on the field, at this point in his career, is quite possibly unlike anyone who's come before him.

I'm so stoked for Rookie Minicamp to start tomorrow. Chaboi gonna be producing some shows that'll be live from Berea. LETS GO

[Thomas5737]

19 minutes ago, MistaBohmbastic said:

Right, I mean...everything that those guys did in college, analytically...Baker blew them out of the water. Sure, there's elements of all their games that could be similar to Mayfield, but he has a unique combination to them. More mobility than Brees, a better arm than Wilson, etc. He's his own player. I think people reach for these comparisons like some kind of security blanket because we're desperate to know what kind of player we've got on our hands.

The reality is, this kid is special, but not in the ways that Brees or Wilson were, in his own way. His leadership and smarts on the field, at this point in his career, is quite possibly unlike anyone who's come before him.

I'm so stoked for Rookie Minicamp to start tomorrow. Chaboi gonna be producing some shows that'll be live from Berea. LETS GO

...Brownies?

[Thomas5737]

I think the perfect comp for Baker is Brees. The problem is that Brees is an all time great and no matter who it is coming out of the draft people will think you are saying they will be as good as the comp you are giving so that makes it a difficult comp even though it's the best I can see past or present.

I don't see Manziel at all. Very little with Wilson. Very little with Garcia. Their strengths aren't going to be Baker's strength.

Nothing at all resembles Favre. A little in common with Tony Romo, though he probably doesn't  project to be nearly as aggressive as either.

Tyrod Taylor is a better comp even though there is a discrepancy in arm talent. Kirk Cousins is a better comp. Alex Smith isn't a terrible comp.

[Kiwibrown]

The other comp is  a midget manning. 

Football Einstein. Good arm accurate.

[Don Roshi]

2 minutes ago, Kiwibrown said:

The other comp is  a midget manning. 

Football Einstein. Good arm accurate.

I'll take that every day of the week, twice on Sundays.

[Kiwibrown]

2 minutes ago, Don Roshi said:

I'll take that every day of the week, twice on Sundays.

Totally. 

So far we have manning/Brees/Wilson/Johnny/Favre hybrid.

the future is here. 

[Mind Character]

36 minutes ago, Kiwibrown said:

Totally. 

So far we have manning/Brees/Wilson/Johnny/Favre hybrid.

the future is here. 

hahaha....

[Mind Character]

Everything about Baker's on-field success depends on how Baker responds to inside pressure... I hated every cut up of inside pressure for him.... he dropped his eyes everytime and scrambled out of the pocket... Darnold would athletically side step or reset to another platform within the pocket while scanning down the field and throwing with anticipation...

In the NFL, if you can't win in the adversity of inside pressure you can't be a winning QB as DTs are so talented and inside pressures are so exotic and successful in the NFL...

Baker didn't have the ability to quick reset and win from the pocket.. he often bails and runs through the pressure...

If he can somehow change this... it would dramatically change how I perceive his ceiling of growth in Quarterbacking...

I've been saying it for a while...

On 1/26/2018 at 7:23 PM, Mind Character said:

The one thing no one seems to be able to answer about Baker is why does he drop his eyes and/or turtle up and panic so frequently when there is serious inside pressure.

It showed itself in the Georgia game..

Until he can prove otherwise... we have to keep scheming the RPO zone read to freeze the DLines rush... so he has time to create with clear passing lanes without feeling the inside pressure...

Baker also doesn't throw well over the middle of the OL (guards/centers) when it comes to intermediate routes between the hashes without the help of an RPO or zone-read play action.... can he do so via a standard drop back or in the gun when it comes to the league? His college tape says no, but hopefully he can at some point...

[MWil23]

@Mind Character, the Iowa State game was atrocious with inside pressure and that game is when I officially bailed on Baker. Hopefully he figures it out. Inside pressure used to even give Tom Brady problems so I’m willing to be patient but it is a concern.

[Xenos]

Peter Kings' inside look at why the Brown's picked Mayfield (a small snippet):

https://www.si.com/nfl/2018/05/03/cleveland-browns-draft-baker-mayfield

Quote

Getting the quarterback right, then, was the paramount job last week for the seventh Cleveland GM in the last decade. It has been clear since the day Dorsey took the job in December that he would pick a passer. He imported two scouts he trusted to help judge QBs—assistant GM Eliot Wolf, Ron’s son, from Green Bay, and consultant Scot McCloughan, the former Washington and 49ers GM—and asked each independently to produce reports on the top QBs. (Wolf had already done his last fall as Green Bay’s director of football operations.) Dorsey filed one as well.

When the GM compared the three reports he noted not only that all three men rated Mayfield first, but also this: Wolf’s grade was identical to Dorsey’s 8.5 on the 1.0-to-9.0 scouting scale they’d learned with the Packers. (Dorsey retained the grading system with the Chiefs and now in Cleveland.) An 8.5 is worthy of a top 10 pick in any draft. “Keep in mind,” Wolf says, “I had no horse in the race. I was in Green Bay. We weren’t taking a quarterback in the first round. But to me, Mayfield was clearly the best guy.” McCloughan graded on a different scale, where the lower the number the better, and he gave Mayfield a 1.1. That, in Packers parlance, is roughly an 8.5.

Dorsey kept those numbers quiet, but it was becoming apparent after the Browns’ pre-combine meetings in February that Mayfield would be hard to top. When it came time to break down the quarterbacks, Dorsey asked Wolf, “Let’s watch a game of his—what’s his best game?”

“Turn on any game,” Wolf said. “Seriously.”

By Pro Football Focus’s metrics, Mayfield was the top-rated college quarterback in both 2016 and ’17, and the website showed him to be a 60.3% passer on balls thrown 20 yards or more past the line of scrimmage in ’17. UCLA’s Josh Rosen, at 42.9%, was next among this year’s five first-round hopefuls.

But every QB in this draft was flawed. Mayfield’s height (6' 5/8") scared scouts. It concerned the Browns too. Dorsey goes by his eyes more than the numbers, but he did note that Mayfield had just two passes batted down in 406 attempts last year; the average number of batted balls in 2017 for Rosen, USC’s Sam Darnold, Wyoming’s Josh Allen and Louisville’s Lamar Jackson: 6.8. Then there was Mayfield’s public-intoxication arrest in February ’17 (he pleaded guilty to three misdeameanor charges) and his on-field cockiness—planting an Oklahoma flag on the field after a win at Ohio State, grabbing his crotch and taunting the Kansas sideline after the Jayhawks’ captains wouldn’t shake his hand before the game. He has a little Manziel in him, it seems, which is not a popular look in northeast Ohio these days.

Dorsey arranged for a team of Browns officials—including Wolf, Jackson and new offensive coordinator Todd Haley—to accompany him in meeting the top four passers during the week of March 19. They started in Los Angeles: dinner with Rosen on Monday night, a workout and classroom session on Tuesday. Then dinner with Darnold on Tuesday, a workout and classroom session on Wednesday. They followed the same schedule with Mayfield in Norman, Okla., on Wednesday night and Thursday, then with Allen in Laramie, Wyo., on Thursday night and Friday.

Talent evaluators often have a confirmation bias: They hear what they want to hear and see what they want to see. “Normally I’m a guy who likes the bigger quarterbacks, with a physical presence and a big arm,” Jackson says. “Baker was the outlier for me.”

The coach quizzed each passer over dinner, asking Mayfield, “What’s the most important thing about being a quarterback?”

“Getting the whole team better,” Mayfield said. “The quarterback’s job is elevating the play of everyone around him.”

Then something happened the next morning—something that showed the kind of respect Mayfield’s teammates had for him. When he walked into the Sooners’ indoor practice facility for his workout, seven teammates were there, stretching on the other end of the field, ready to catch his passes. Mayfield cupped his hands and called out a signal: “Hee-hee!”

“Hee-hee!” they called back and came jogging over to Mayfield.

“Damndest thing I’ve seen,” Jackson says. “Like Baker was the Pied Piper.’’

Dorsey, meanwhile, was probing the sources he has developed over years of scouting in Norman. “One of the best leaders I’ve ever had on any team,” former OU coach Bob Stoops told him. Dorsey knows an agent in Norman, an alum named Kelli Masters; she’s familiar with Mayfield, and Dorsey says she tried to recruit the QB as a client. “John came to me,” Masters says, “and wanted to know, Is he Manziel? I told him, ‘No, Baker is not Manziel.’ There are definitely not the grave concerns, the red flags, about Baker that there were about Johnny.”

The workout went great, Jackson says. “I told him, ‘I want you to hit all your receivers in the face.’ He said O.K. And he did—through the whole workout. The arm talent is what I’ll always remember from that day. It’s NFL arm talent.”

Afterward, the Cleveland contingent boarded owner Jimmy Haslam’s plane in Norman and went to scout Allen. “I didn’t say anything to anyone,” Dorsey says. “But when I got on the plane, I knew: That’s our dude.”

The Browns desperately needed a dude. It’s tough in a die-hard place like northeast Ohio for the fan base to lose hope, but winning one game in two years is a way to do it.

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[DizzyDean]

Manning?  Really?  Manning?  Now that one is way out there.  I never would have thought I would have seen that one.  Manning was a cerebral statue.  Baker is very mobile.  I think he will be great at the mental part of the game, but i am not sure that any QB will ever be able to dissect a defense pre snap as well as Manning did.