How can Baker Mayfield Earn His New Contract?

What Baker Mayfield Has Already Done

As I mentioned before, we saw the Cleveland Browns won 11 games last season. They made the playoffs and beat the Pittsburgh Steelers in the wild card round. All of that, making this the most successful season the Browns have had since coming back in 1999. At the forefront of that success, Baker Mayfield. Mayfield made the big throws when necessary and only had eight interceptions last season, meaning he was also protecting the football. He threw 26 touchdowns, ran for one more, and had over 3000 yards passing. All this while losing Odell Beckham Jr, in the middle of the season, and dealing with numerous covid-19 issues. He also broke the rookie touchdown record in just 14 games in 2018 and has been a captain of the team for multiple years.

What Else Can be Done?

Despite all that success, many still wonder if Mayfield needs to do more. It’s a hard question to answer for a quarterback who is beloved by fans and has done nothing to make this team worse over its last two seasons. The main question for the young QB though is consistency. When Mayfield makes a big play or has a big throw, it seems that he can’t follow it up. He’ll have a great game and then back that up with a bad game in the next one. The last piece of the Baker Mayfield puzzle is him showing that consistency on a weekly basis. In the back half of last season, we saw the first glimpses of this consistency, as Mayfield put together many good weeks in a row. If this is the Baker Mayfield we get for the 2021 season, then most of those questions would be answered. Mayfield also needs to prove to us that the small number of turnovers last year was his true form and not just a last-season fluke. Mayfield has two interceptions through two games this season and will need to cut down before things get ugly

He also needs to prove to everyone he can win the big games. While Mayfield has won some big games, there are a few games you’d like to see him go out and win. Most recently the one against the Kansas City Chiefs in week 1, because he was definitely given the chance to win it.

Has he Earned It?

Depending on who you ask this question you’ll get different answers. If you asked me, you would get a yes. Mayfield has proven capable of winning games and has gone toe to toe with Lamar Jackson and Patrick Mahomes multiple times. While Mayfield hasn’t necessarily won all of these games, he has proved he can play well in the big moments. You’d like to see him win those games, but football is a team sport, and they aren’t always his fault. If you ask me, then Mayfield deserves to get paid. But there is still a lot of the season left to figure this out.

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Thanks for reading my article on Baker Mayfield’s Contract. For more great content follow me on Twitter @malensek_j, also, follow @OT_Heroics and @OTH_Fotball for all of your NFL needs! Don’t forget to check out the OTH Football Weekly Podcast on Spotify and Youtube!