Mayfield's moments with Browns are over

Baker Mayfield certainly had his moments. In his best, at his best, the Heisman-Trophy winning, trash-talking, product-endorsing, hotheaded quarterback from the University of Oklahoma gave Cleveland Browns fans reason to believe. There were times – like when he set an NFL rookie record for touchdown passes in 2018 – that Mayfield and Cleveland looked like they would be not just synonymous with each other, but with winning. It looked that way a year ago, when the Browns were coming off an 11-5 season and their first playoff win in a quarter-century. And yet, that's not the way things turned out. Mayfield was traded to the Carolina Panthers earlier this week for a conditional fifth-round draft pick in the 2024 draft. That the Browns and Mayfield were heading for a divorce was not a surprise. The relationship ended as soon as the team sent a boatload of draft picks to Houston, and a boatload of cash to Deshaun Watson's bank account in March. Even given the troubling situation in which Watson finds himself – he could be facing a lengthy suspension this season for his alleged off-the-field behavior – the only real question left about Mayfield was where he would go, when would he go there, and what could the Browns get back. This week's trade answers that question, and closes the book on Mayfield's time with the franchise. How will it be remembered? Some have said that the Browns' dysfunction – as well as the franchise's years of losing – made things hard on Mayfield. But that's not entirely true. Mayfield's first appearance with the Browns came on a Thursday night in September of 2018, when he came off the bench and led them to a win over the Jets. It was the team's first win since December of 2016. To a fanbase thirsting for success, this felt like the Super Bowl, Mayfield ended up going 6-7 as a starter in his rookie season. Fans hadn't seen the Browns win six games in four years. It may have inflated his abilities in our eyes. It also made it difficult to criticize him when things went off the rails in 2019 and Cleveland – despite high expectations – crashed and finished 6-10. For most cities, a quarterback who finished below .500 in his first two seasons would have been a massive disappointment. But in Cleveland – where the memories of signal-callers like Johnny Manziel, Cody Kessler and DeShone Kizer remained fresh – Baker still looked like a success. It was always easy to place the blame elsewhere when things didn't work. Hue Jackson, of 1-31 fame, was his first coach. He was fired in the middle of the 2018 season, leaving a legacy of unparalleled incompetence. In 2019, the Browns were coached by Freddie Kitchens, who once called a draw play in a fourth-and-nine situation. Kitchens seemed overwhelmed, and while some thought Mayfield regressed in that campaign, it was easier to file his underwhelming season as a casualty of Kitchens' failed regime. The Browns had their best season in forever in 2020, and Mayfield played his best football in the second half of the year. Getting to the playoffs and winning a playoff game – in Pittsburgh of all places, where the Browns rarely prevail – cemented Baker as special to many fans. When 2021 went sour – the QB was injured in Week 2 – and some wondered if Mayfield was on his way out in Cleveland, it also became a rallying cry from his supporters. Despite going 8-9, and despite appearing to alienate himself from coach Kevin Stefanski and his teammates, the calls still came. "How can you get rid of a guy who got us from 1-31 to a playoff win?" First of all, that argument ignores the contributions of players like Nick Chubb and Myles Garrett, among others. But to me, it also ignores the main point. The Browns started a massive rebuild in 2016. They had a winless season. They were a laughingstock. Now, Cleveland has built a competitive roster. Some think it's a Super Bowl-caliber roster. Is one playoff win really the ceiling after a painstaking rebuild? The Browns front office and Stefanski have decided that Mayfield's ceiling cannot be the team's ceiling. Mayfield had his moments. After all this franchise and fanbase has been through, the moments were never long enough.