Tyrod’s injury good for Browns? Mayfield takes over as starter
Tyrod Taylor, quarterback of the Cleveland Browns, left Thursday night’s game with a head injury that was soon diagnosed as concussion. It’s cruel to call it a blessing in disguise, but his departure, trailing 14-0, opened the door to a remarkable debut by Baker Mayfield. He could be the QB1 for weeks and years to come.
Heisman Trophy winner at the U of Oklahoma, Mayfield was the first overall pick of this year’s NFL Draft. It was inevitable he would replace Taylor as starting quarterback, but coach Hue Jackson intended for Mayfield to develop gradually.
The rookie would learn from Tyrod (who pronounces it tee-ROD), who would groom him to be the starter in 2019.
Jackson’s plans were dashed with just under two minutes remaining in the second quarter against the New York Jets. Taylor left with a concussion and dreadful stats: 4-of-14, 19 yards, 3 sacks. Worst of all, zero points.
Mayfield drove the Browns to their first score as the half ended 14-3. The second half was all Cleveland, all Mayfield. He completed 17 of 23 for 201 yards, no picks, 1 sack. Jackson tossed him the game ball for the 21-17 victory, the team’s first since December 2016. Mayfield made the Jets look like a Big Twelve defense.
The difference between Taylor and Mayfield was so vast that Tony Dungy, former Super Bowl-winning coach, wondered why it took Jackson so long to see it.
Speaking Friday on NBCSN’s Pro Football Talk, Dungy said: “Tyrod Taylor is a good quarterback, but Baker Mayfield is the future. And the sooner you get him in there, the quicker he gets acclimated.
“Did you see the reaction of those players on the sideline? It was clear, they were excited.”
Dungy argued that there’s not much mystery about Mayfield’s quarterbacking ability and that Jackson knows he’s special because “you evaluated all these guys –Sam Darnold, Josh Rosen, Josh Allen. You said, ‘This guy’s clearly the best, this is the guy we want.’
“Put him in the lineup.”
But there is another concern, one that Jackson does not want to mention. Mayfield, 23, is impetuous and emotionally immature. His transgressions during the past two years have included public intoxication, disorderly conduct, running from police, several episodes of making obscene gestures in public.
And of course, his piece de resistance: the planting of the Oklahoma flag on Ohio State’s logo. As long as he lives in Ohio, will he ever live that down?
He’s a distraction waiting to happen. Anyone in Cleveland has to wonder: Is this another Johnny Manziel? A slightly undersized quarterback with oversized psychological baggage.
Here he is on a team where the pressures to win are like nowhere else. These have been the longest-suffering football fans in America. It’s not often that Hue Jackson is right about something, but he had reason to delay putting an adventurous athlete in a new world of expectations, temptations and gobs of money.
It’s not just what Mayfield did or did not do before he arrived in the Land. In training camp he did not show Jackson the work ethic that Taylor did. In the television series Hard Knocks, the coach gently reprimanded Mayfield for being late to practice.
Jackson doesn’t want Mayfield to think that just because he throws the ball like Dan Marino (receivers may need thicker gloves), he’s assured of starting. The quarterback must be the leader of the team, the one who works hardest, sets the example. Or he will be on a losing team.
So there’s more to think about than you may think. Or Tony Dungy may think.
Peter King, who has spoken with Jackson at length about Mayfield, said on Pro Football Talk: “I just know that the plan Hue Jackson had in place, I think that’s the best plan, far and away. There would be some regret, I think, from Hue Jackson if they go to Mayfield now and for the rest of the year.”
Jackson waited until Monday to name Mayfield his starter for the next game, Sunday in Oakland. Meanwhile, Tyrod Taylor is in concussion protocol. Jackson may have mixed feelings about that. If the player stays in protocol, there doesn’t have to be a quarterback controversy in Cleveland.
