Cleveland Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield has taken his fair share of criticism for his shaky play since sustaining a torn labrum in his left shoulder in Week 2 against the Houston Texans.
Former NFL quarterback Sean Salisbury of SportsTalk 790 in Houston explained why he’s not overly worried about Mayfield’s long-term direction during a Wednesday appearance on 92.3 The Fan’s “Bull and Fox” show.
“I’m not making excuses for him. If it continues, we’ll discuss it, but I can tell you this is that he’s not making excuses,” Salisbury said of Mayfield. “I can’t fathom the world that thinks that this position that you’re supposed to play perfect every week.
“I don’t get it. I don’t and I’m not apologizing for saying it. If you think Baker Mayfield can’t play, you’re a friggin’ idiot. Period.”
Mayfield went 15-of-33 passing for 155 yards during the 14-7 victory against the Minnesota Vikings in Week 4.
“I’m not making excuses for Baker Mayfield,” Salisbury said. “I thought he sucked last week, but the other side of it is I know damn well how competitive…I guarantee you when he watched the tape, he’ll tell you he didn’t play well.
“He’ll tell you he didn’t play well because you know what? He knows where his expectations are.”
The Browns did not commit a turnover against the Vikings.
“I can’t believe when I go on social media and when I hear people talk about the fact that a guy has a bad game, and that, ‘He’s no longer elite. We got to replace him. Oh, we could trade (Deshaun) Watson for him.’” Salisbury said. “I mean…I’m not calling out fans, but you cannot be this friggin’ stupid.”
Through four weeks of the 2021 season, Mayfield has completed 74 of 113 pass attempts (65.5%) for 935 yards (22nd in the NFL), two touchdowns (tied for 29th in the NFL) and two interceptions (tied for seventh).
Mayfield’s QBR of 39.8 ranks 26th in the league this season, and has a 26-23 career record as an NFL starter.
Even though Mayfield has denied his left shoulder injury has affected his performance, his statistical output says otherwise.
Also, Mayfield’s off-target rate (39%) in the Minnesota game was the highest of his career. #Browns @ESPNStatsInfo https://t.co/olewlv1oCW
— Jake Trotter (@Jake_Trotter) October 8, 2021
#Browns QB Baker Mayfield said left shoulder is still attached and doesn’t have anything to do with accuracy issues. “I throw with my right,” he said.
— Nate Ulrich (@ByNateUlrich) October 3, 2021
“One week he’s changed the culture by eight million fans, and then the next week because he goes on the road, plays poorly, misses some easy throws, who for whatever reason whether he’s hurt, I’m not a doctor. I don’t know that, but I’ll be damned,” Salisbury said. “’Now, we got to replace him.’ With what?…I heard the same crap about Aaron Rodgers the very first week of this season against the Saints.”
Salisbury said there are weeks players play poorly, and he had advice for anyone who was mad about his analysis of Mayfield’s critics.
“If you’re mad that I say this, so somebody who’s listening, sitting in their home, no offense, I know more about the position than you do. That’s number one,” Salisbury said. “Two is I know how tough it is to play because I threw to the other guy plenty, and I’ve spent countless hours studying this position over the last 40 years.”
Salisbury made an analogy about his NFL quarterback expertise.
“If you’re going to consider (Dr. Anthony) Fauci an expert (about the COVID-19 pandemic), I’m an expert at this,” Salisbury said.
Ultimately, the Browns front office must determine whether to offer Mayfield a contract extension, and maybe more importantly, how much to offer.
Mayfield is under contract through the 2022 season after the team picked up his fifth-year option on his rookie deal in the offseason.
Plus, the Browns might value Mayfield more highly than the NFL’s other 31 teams given the franchise’s poor quarterback play for years.
In 2019, Mayfield became the first Browns quarterback to start all 16 games since Tim Couch did in 2001.
In the 2020 season, Mayfield led the Browns to the playoffs for the first time since the 2002 campaign, and led the team to its first playoff win since Jan. 1, 1995.
Salisbury acknowledged Mayfield played poorly against the Vikings, but the Browns still won.
“I can’t believe that whether it’s national hot take show or somebody sitting in row four saying, ‘I understand we have an opinion and we played like a** last week. He was not good,’” Salisbury said. “I know they got on the plane and they won.
“Now, I can give you a 400-yard performance in a loss, and it looks pretty, but you lose now. I don’t Cleveland Browns fans are so scarred from the last 20-plus years or other fans wherever they’re going through difficult times…I mean how dare us because they have a bad performance think that he’s no longer a good player?”
I agree with Sean mostly except when he says Browns fans cant be so stupid to want to get rid of Baker just because he has a bad game. I believe many Browns fans are idiots for how they think like that. And that imbecilic mentality is fueled by the morons who think like the sports talk shows like the Bull AKA BS on the Cleveland show. I think they dont have legit material so to generate ratings they make up narratives like they have to date. I listen much less thanks to idiots like him. He knows everything, just ask him and if you dont agree with him, he will cut you off. Sounds like a hard core liberal socialist. That’s how they think. Thankfully, Baker is not that thin skinned.
“Sounds like a hard core liberal socialist.” so cute when a conservative attempts projection.
Just because your fox news is arrogant and cut people off doesn’t mean that liberals do that.
Never see it happen. so like your side always says “show me a link” hahahahaha
Lot of idiot Browns fans…..there is no better choice.
Maybe they should go back to being the worst team in football, nobody but Baker WANTS to be in Cleveland. Baker is a damn good QB.
Baker Mayfield is fine…everyone has tough days,but if we didn’t have to play against the officials it would make it a little bit bit easier
Totally agree The same people dissing Baker are the same dummies who said Sam Darnold was the best quarterback of that draft class. People who think Baker is not worthy are the same people who tried to convince everybody that Phony Romo was elite for years. They were wrong, he wasn’t and they are now wrong about Baker. Also the same people that hate Baker, love Tom(Cheater) Brady. . Draft pick losses and fines don’t lie about cheating. Baker has more class than that. Also to the morons that want to replace Baker with Deshaun Watson, how stupid are you people?Watson will be lucky if he isn’t jailed for sexual assault by next season. Baker is elite. He was elite before Cleveland drafted him, being the only player to walk on at 2 different colleges and win the starting quarterback position. Baker chose to come and play for a team that had been in disarray fire 25 years. He had a bad game against the Vikings. It happens to the best. He had a great game against the Chargers but the criticism is the same from the same people. Only an elite quarterback is able to put up the kind of numbers Baker put up in the Chargers game. Its time for the naysayers to, SHUT UP!
Idiots! Baker is our qb period. Think of all the guys before him. Here’s a guy who embraces cleveland & gives his all, injured or not & you diss him like who’s next? Nobody wants to run odell out of town but what’s he doing for his money? This is Baker’s 2nd year in this system & he’ll only get better.
Odell is just taking up space. He’s either on the “injured bench or taking up space on the field. Sure we could have gotten a good reciever for him.
Just look at the number of games that we lost with bad calls like the KC missed Targeting Call, negating a touchdown. Could have been in the Super Bowl. And the missed field goals, extra points last year. We had a bad record in last years first half and still made it into the post season. I’ve lived in the CLEVELAND, last20 years in Florida, but I’ve visited and talked with a bunch of old timers like Otto Graham, lived in Tampa and Lou Groza. That was a long ti.e, but, it seems that there are always naysayers even back then.
We now have a excellent coach, a d also a quarterback. It takes years to develop a team to have a shot at getting to the playoffs. Mayfield andour New head coach did it in record time. I personally think we are well on the way to get to the Super Bowl within 3 years.
Baker is statistically on par with Gardner Minshew, both in the NFL and back in college. Just search for the side by side comparison from Colin Cowherd.
Gardner Minshew has never had anywhere near the elite rushing offense Baker has. He has never had the loaded O-Line Baker has. Minshew has 1 former offensive teammate at Washington State who’s played snaps in the NFL. Baker has 8 former offensive teammates from Oklahoma who’ve played snaps in the NFL. We’re talking 9 college teammates on just one side of the ball! That is the ultimate support system, safety net, etc.