I like Steven A Smith quite a bit, but think he overreacted to Andrew Berry's expression of confidence in Baker Mayfield.
Steve is irked by what he percieves as "coddling' a Quarterback who was downright bad for all of 2019.
Well, behind closed doors, there won't be any coddling, Steve. This is PR, and Andrew Berry was part of the (unanimous) front office who selected Baker as the first overall draft pick.
Also, it's perfectly reasonable to expect a "rebound" in Mayfield's third pro season with an upgraded Offensive Line (and shhh...OBJ and his salary traded).
Even guys who express similar confidence in Mayfield are inexplicably implying a lack of athleticism as one of his faults, and also that his arm-talent is less than what it is.
David Njoku (who Andrew Berry had a big part of drafting) is getting a similar treatment, as his dropped passes seem to have multiplied exponentially in many alleged minds, and fans from other teams are suggesting that they offer 4th-rounders for Njoku in a trade.
I'm just snickering at most pundits and fans as they want to trade for Gramps (Trent) Williams, draft a Tight End to replace Njoku, and think Mayfield might be okay if he's protected in a Shanahan system and stuff...
Njoku gets a reset with this new staff, and is a freak, having some chemistry with Mayfield (and I bet Mayfield was more upset with Freddie's benching of Njoku than David himself was).
David Njoku was a raw, inexperienced player coming out of college; a project, picked almost exclusively for his off-the-charts athleticism.
He's still learning and growing. To a lesser extent, so is Baker Mayfield.
Baker Mayfield is more talented than Jimmy Garropolo. No knock on Jimmy G, as he's probably a top ten QB already, but Baker can do more than Jimmy, once he gets back to finding the open receiver instead of forcing it to one guy.
I have to get in the weeds here: Mayfield is on the short side, and can't always see the whole field well. At Oklahoma, and with the Browns in 2018, he moved around; not just to elude pressure, but also to see downfield (Jake Burns should film-study this).
All quarterbacks have a predesignated "progression" on each play, which changes depending on how the defense deploys presnap, and then reacts post-snap.
The best Quarterbacks evolve past this early in their carreers...in 2018, the rookie Mayfield trusted his instincts, and didn't hesitate. Jarvis Landry predictably caught the most passes, but the rest were caught by like 5 other WRs, TEs, and RBs.
In 2019, he had OBJ. It screwed him up. NOW, he tried to stick to the prescribed progression, which as often as not had OBJ as the primary.
He overrode his own instincts. His eyes didn't look everywhere anymore, but kept returning to OBJ.
Jake Burns already has exposed how Baker failed to spot open receivers not named Odell.
If OBJ were 6'3", 220, this might have worked--but OBJ is not that, and that's why I expect the Browns to pretend to love him until they trade him.
Baker Mayfield can be what he was in 2018 (and more) easily, as soon as he reverts back to his natural tendancies.
He has those instincts in common with Patrick Mahomes (and is nearly as athletic, and just as accurate too).
Obviously (sigh) Mahomes is on a different planet (I've never seen anybody like him), but Mayfield can do everything Kurt Warner, Drew Brees, and Aaron Rodgers have done, and I guess I can live with that.
(Russell Wilson is different, ok? And so is Favre, for that matter).
Andrew Gribble tried to figure out how several top-ranked Left Tackles would come off the board in the 2020 draft (wildly guessing, really, pre-combine), but the guy is smart:
FOUR quarterbacks (at least 3) are likely to come off the board in the top 10. The top edge-rusher and another position player are also likely to go here as well.
Andrew refused to guess how Andrew Berry and co will rate and rank the L E F T tackles at this point (as do I), but I can take this further:
1: While there is great depth at OT in this draft, there is no Joe Thomas.
2: Most of the teams in this range have multiple needs, and given the unusual depth at OT in this draft class, at least 2 or 3 will choose a different position with their top pick.
Andew was replying to a trade-down question in his mailbag. I can take it from here:
The Browns WILL absolutely trade down from 10th overall if they can.
Tony Grossi hates trading down because you risk "your player". For such a smart guy, this is dumb:
Most GMs not in need of a Quarterback have a group of players they deem worthy of their draft pick, and if 3 of those players remain available when they're on the clock, they consider moving down 3 slots.
Obviously, they can do this, and still be certain of getting one of the players they'd targetted in the first place.
*Some GMs are blockheads like Grossi, and just don't like trades. They tend to get fired*
In this 2020 draft, the stars align for DePodesta and Berry. They can probably trade down as many as 5 spots, and still get an immediate starter/upgrade with their top pick.
That needs to be a Left Tackle, by the way. Not a safety or edge-rusher or linebacker (good grief) ok?
I can't factor in the OBJ trade yet, but the first round pick part of that could land another OT or passrusher (NOT Gramps Williams, obviously).
Snickers, snorts, and snark aside, the 2020 Browns could be all up in the Ravens' face...well if they do what I would do...
Why can't their IP people fix all these communications issues I have with the Browns anyway? If only Jimmy had seen my resume...
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