Baker Mayfield is a little healthier coming out of the bye week, although the Cleveland Browns quarterback’s shoulder is still far from 100% and won’t be for a while.
Mayfield injured his shoulder while attempting to make a tackle on an interception against the Texans in Week 2. Outside of a missed game against Denver in late-October, he’s been playing through the injury. However, the injury has been worsened by some hard hits.
Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports reported on Sunday that Mayfield will continue playing with a harness this season and will require offseason surgery on the shoulder for what has been diagnosed as a torn labrum.
Mayfield has been non-committal about the idea of surgery on his shoulder and La Canfora reported that there could be a “range” of recovery times.
There are a range of potential outcomes, and recovery times, based on the exact damage done to the labrum in his non-throwing shoulder, depending on the extend of the tear.
Baker Mayfield Got Better in Bye Week
Mayfield admitted the bye week helped him get back on track physically and he’s feeling refreshed heading into Sunday’s crucial AFC North matchup with the Ravens. On top of his shoulder, Mayfield was also dealing with foot, groin and knee injuries.
“I have not had any major setbacks the past few weeks and then having another week off. Looking forward to keep getting better as the weeks go on,” Mayfield told reporters. “Right now, we are just looking at it as a one-game season at a time. Everything that we can accomplish is still in front of us so if we handle it correctly, that will happen that way. Just have to do so accordingly.”
Mayfield has been below average this year and especially bad in a few spots. He ranks 26th in QBR with a rating of 37.9, throwing for 2,413 yards, 11 touchdowns and six interceptions. The Browns leadership have expressed that they feel Mayfield will play his best football in the final five weeks of the season.
Browns Continue to Back Baker Mayfield as Starter
Despite Mayfield dealing with multiple injuries, the Browns have continued to back the former No. 1 overall pick as the starter, avoiding any kind of quarterback controversy.
“Baker is our quarterback,” Browns general manager Andrew Berry told reporters during the bye week. “He is healthy enough to win games for us. He has won games for us in the past couple of weeks. If he is ready to go, he is going to be our starter.”
The Browns have a decision to make on Mayfield’s future and Berry admits that has made it hard to evaluate the former top pick for a long-term deal.
“I think with Baker, especially from a long-term perspective, you really try and take a big picture approach,” Berry said. “Really with any player, it is about body of work really over several years and also taking into context the environment or particular individual’s situation. We have seen Baker play a lot of good football here.”
As Mayfield has said multiple times this season, if the Browns win, everything else will take care of itself. With the Brown sitting at 6-6, they’ll need a strong run down the stretch to punch a return ticket to the postseason.
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Browns QB Baker Mayfield Needs Surgery for Injury: Report