It was clear that by the end of the 2021 season, the Cleveland Browns had lost faith in Baker Mayfield. His play on the field just wasn’t good enough – his 68 turnovers since 2018 are the second most in the league. He often fell short in big moments with 19 career interceptions in the 4th quarter, which was the second most since 2018 as well.
To make matters worse, Mayfield chose video games over preparing for a key game vs the Green Bay Packers on Christmas day. Mayfield, who missed the week of practice with COVID, played Halo for hours each day rather than studying the game plan. The results – a 4 interception game by Mayfield in a 22-24 loss. Mayfield was the reason the Browns lost.
To make matters even worse, Jason Lloyd of the Athletic reported that, ““Mayfield was widely viewed as childish and immature. His behavior annoyed teammates and divided the locker room. He was often difficult to coach.” Mayfield supposedly had multiple run-ins with head coach Kevin Stefanski, which rubbed teammates the wrong way. A lot of it had to do with Mayfield feeling like he wasn’t being protected properly by the line. Members of the coaching staff felt that was completely wrong. The organization believed Mayfield generally had plenty of time to get rid of the ball but didn’t.
Odell Beckham Jr’s father highlighted that during the season. We all saw the drama Baker caused with that, ultimately causing Cleveland to release Odell during the year.
It was a bitter ending for Mayfield and the Browns organization. Browns fans adored Mayfield, and many are upset with how the organization handled moving on from him. I don’t think they could have handled the situation any worse: