Everyone knows everything about the NFL until the season begins. After two weeks of the 2019 season, these are some of the biggest surprises.
Heading into the 2019 NFL season, many people had their assumptions of how well teams would play and how good certain players would be. But after two weeks of action, there have already been plenty of surprises throughout the league.
The Chicago Bears were a prime example of this in the 2018 season. After coming off a 5-11 campaign in 2017, the Bears made tremendous improvements to ultimately win the NFC North with a 12-4 record. And that’s just one example of the surprises that happen every year in the NFL.
Whether it’s players that were expected to make a leap and didn’t, players who were supposed to drop off and haven’t, a team that hasn’t met expectations or has exceeded expectations, or something else, the surprises are always there. After the first two weeks of the 2019 NFL season, these are five of the biggest surprises throughout the league.
5. Baker Mayfield Has Not Taken Steps Forward
During Baker Mayfield‘s rookie season, the prevailing thought was that he would get some playing time. That moment came sooner than expected for some, though, as he relieved an injured Tyrod Taylor in Week 3 and never looked back.
Mayfield finished his debut game with 201 yards and no touchdowns as well as no interceptions and led the Browns to victory, ending a tumultuous losing streak. He was quite impressive in his first taste of in-game action, especially being thrown into action cold as the backup.
After being named the starter following that, the 2018 first overall pick performed well. Mayfield finished the season with 3,725 passing yards, 27 touchdowns and 14 interceptions. He likely would have won Offensive Rookie of the Year if not for Saquon Barkley. More importantly, the Browns looked as if they’d found their franchise quarterback. So they were aggressive in getting pieces around him leading up to 2019.
On both offense and defense, the Browns made big acquisitions. The defense added Olivier Vernon via trade and landed Greedy Williams in the draft. Meanwhile, the offense landed one of the NFL’s best receivers by trading for Odell Beckham Jr. With these additions and a strong rookie campaign, the assumption was that Mayfield would take the next step. Through two weeks, though, that hasn’t happened.
In Week 1 against Tennessee, Mayfield struggled significantly, finishing with 285 yards and a touchdown, but also with three interceptions in a blowout loss where he got rattled when the team fell behind. Against the weaker Jets defense in Week 2, Mayfield was better with 325 yards, one touchdown and one interception but was still far from perfect.
It’s still early but this can’t be the season Browns fans were hoping for from No. 6.