“He has that” – NFL personnel expert Scot McCloughan explains why there’s still HOPE for Baker Mayfield
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Baker Mayfield and Scot McCloughan
These past few days in the NFL have been absolutely crazy. We saw Aaron Rodgers signing a 4-year $200 million extension with the Packers and Russell Wilson moving to Denver from Seattle. This goes to show that it’s truly a quarterback’s game. Many experts around the league have stressed how much it means to have a great QB lead the team.
Looking at quarterbacks, the No.1 draft pick of 2018, Baker Mayfield, comes to mind. The Heisman-winning QB out of Oaklahoma showed great potential and was believed to be franchise QB. However, his performance up to this point hasn’t been any indication of any of the promises that he showed.
“They want to fight for him and battle for him” – McCloughan feels teammates trust Baker Mayfield and believe the QB will show his true potential soon enough
The 2018 quarterback class was touted as one of the best quarterback classes of a generation. Entire front offices planned a year in advance for this group. The Ravens, at No. 32, drafted Lamar Jackson, The Bills, at No. 7, gambled on Josh Allen. The Jets, at No. 3, selected Sam Darnold. And No.1 was, of course, Baker Mayfield selected by the Cleveland Browns.
As early as the fall of 2017, longtime NFL personnel man Scot McCloughan went on record about how much he loved this Oklahoma quarterback. Now, McCloughan does consulting work for GMs as well as agencies. He talked about why it was Mayfield and not the other guys that went No.1 in 2018.
“All of the players started snapping their fingers,” said McCloughan via Go Long. “It was the f—–g coolest thing. Now, it’s ‘go time.’ That’s what they did before games. That’s when they knew Baker arrived. It just went pure silent, and all of a sudden, they started snapping their fingers. And everybody f—–g went crazy. That’s the kind of guy you want.”
Baker Mayfield’s 4 seasons in the NFL have been a roller coaster. He set a rookie record for passing touchdowns in 2018 with 27, then flopped with Beckham in 2019, then took the team to the playoffs in 2020, then had the painful, unproductive 2021.
“I’d rather have that than the prima donna who every now and then, you say, ‘Ooo, that’s a hell of a drive.’ But when you need one, he can’t do it. People know in the huddle he can’t do it and you can’t trust him. I don’t see that with Baker. I see people trusting him and people wanting him out there. They want to fight for him and battle for him. I think that’s important for a quarterback to be successful in the NFL. He has that.”
Maybe there’s still hope for the No.1 draft pick. There were talks about the Browns drafting another QB to give Mayfield a bit of competition. The 2022 QB class isn’t that attractive and the Browns might draft a backup just to give Mayfield something to fight for. Let’s hope that Baker fights back in the 2022 season and shows the entire world his capability to win games and why he was the No.1 draft pick.
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Yash Karandekar
(1023 Articles Published)