Getty Cleveland Browns QB Baker Mayfield
Baker Mayfield had plenty of doubters when he entered the NFL as the No. 1 overall pick of the Cleveland Browns, but it didn’t take long for him to make believers out of even the most staunch skeptics.
One of the people who wasn’t high on Mayfield in the 2018 draft was Bleacher Report’s Matt Miller, who ranked the Hesiman winner as the No. 12 overall and saw him going No. 3 in his mock draft.
In Miller’s piece looking back at last year’s draft, he listed Mayfield as his biggest miss.
“Ranking Mayfield at No. 12 overall was far too low—and projecting him to be drafted No. 3 overall doesn’t save that. In a draft class with Sam Darnold, Josh Allen and Josh Rosen, the ranking should have been Mayfield either QB1 or QB2 behind Darnold. Lesson learned,” Miller wrote.
Miller cites Mayfield’s magnetic personality and “special” leadership abilities as reasons why he initially though Mayfield could be a success at the NFL level. But he didn’t anticipate the Oklahoma product’s dynamic playmaking ability he showed off during a record-setting rookie year, which led to Mayfield flipping Miller’s mindset about height at the QB position (Mayfield is 6-foot-1, just under the prototypical height for a quarterback).
Mayfield was a miss on my rankings, as well as an important reminder that height doesn’t always matter and that leadership and poise are among the most valuable traits a quarterback can possess,” Miller wrote.
That’s a sentiment Baker’s teammates could get behind. Running back Nick Chubb, who shares a backfield with Mayfield, said that players rally behind the QB because of his vocal leadership style.
“He’s a great leader,” Chubb said Tiki and Tierney show on Thursday . “He’s very vocal. He brings the energy and the intensity and he makes us want to play for him. No matter the situation – in the game or in practice – he keeps his composure. He’s just a great guy to follow. He’s one of those guys that you love to play for and you’d hate to play against because of his attitude and how he acts. I’m on the same team as him. All the guys follow him.”
Mayfield showed what he could do last year in his time as the signal-called in Cleveland, breaking the rookie record for touchdown passes previously held by Peyton Manning and Russell Wilson. He took over as the starter in Week 3 for the Browns and threw for 3,725 yards and had and 27 touchdowns to 14 interceptions. The Browns finished 7-8-1, winning five of their final seven games.
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