Cleveland Browns: Baker Mayfield the leader needed for turnaround
Cleveland Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield opened up about his position with his team and it’s clear he’s the right leader to turn things around.
Baker Mayfield has been a polarizing figure even before the Cleveland Browns selected him with the first pick in the 2018 NFL Draft. Even during his time with the Oklahoma Sooners, he was consistently making waves. One thing that’s never been in question, however, is the confidence of the Browns starting quarterback.
Thus, coming off of a 7-8-1 season with the Browns in his rookie season, it shouldn’t be a surprise that Mayfield is leading the charge of confidence about this team. Many fans and analysts join Mayfield in their confidence about the Browns’ chances of truly turning things around in 2019 and beyond. At the same time, though, there are plenty of doubters at well. These are the Browns, after all.
In a recent longform profile from ESPN’s Mina Kimes, Mayfield was broken down extensively as a player, leader and person. And one thing that was made abundantly clear wat that the quarterback was going to unapologetically be himself no matter what comes the way of him and his team.
To conclude the piece from Kimes, Mayfield had this to say:
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"“I’m gonna be myself and believe in that,” he says. “And if you don’t like it, that’s OK.”"
The detractors of Mayfield and this new-look Browns team have many easy targets. There’s the quarterback himself, there’s a first-time head coach in Freddie Kitchens, there’s newcomer Odell Beckham Jr. and there are plenty more. These doubters can talk about personalities, how they’ll clash or distract and so on.
However, the general swagger, confidence and personality of this Browns team as currently constructed is something unfamiliar in Cleveland. Before Mayfield’s arrival, this was a team that accrued a laughably bad 1-31 record over the previous two seasons. Thus, even winning seven games last season was a monumental step in the right direction.
With their sights now set higher heading into 2019 — they’re favored to win the AFC North this season — the worst thing that could happen to this team is that confidence be shaken. If they hear the noise and aren’t fully bought in with what’s happening, they put themselves in immediate danger of reverting back to the “same ol’ Browns”.
That’s why Mayfield is the perfect leader for this group. He doesn’t hear the chatter, the slights, the negativity that comes this way. The second-year quarterback has an unwavering belief in himself and what this team can accomplish at the helm. As he noted, he won’t always be perfect in doing so. However, he’s going to do everything in the interest of being a winner.
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In the profile, Kimes describes Mayfield several times as being a “cult-like” leader with the way people and teammates are drawn to him. That’s perfectly in line with what the Browns need to truly turn the corner. They need a leader that rallies the team around him and his confidence, a leader capable of being louder than any negativity.
Mayfield is that, without question. And with the talent to back it up, the Browns might just shed the “same ol'” label and take on a whole new meaning.