Baker Mayfield, Browns Can't Be Their Best Without Changes to Flawed Offense

On paper, the Cleveland Browns entered this season as one of the most talented teams in the NFL. Following their first playoff campaign in nearly two decades, we had every reason to believe Cleveland could contend for a championship for the first time this century. 

It isn't happening. 

Following a dispirited and discouraging 15-10 Week 8 loss to the division-rivals Pittsburgh Steelers, the Browns are officially the last-place team in the AFC North. At 4-4, they're only one defeat short of last year's loss total. They've scored just three more points than they've allowed, and they've fallen to 0-3 against teams that currently possess winning records. 

But beyond the numbers, the Browns don't look or feel like a particularly good team. A home dud in a critical game on extra rest Sunday confirmed it: They don't have what it takes to be a true contender right now. And that won't likely change until the front office can make significant adjustments. 

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The jury's still very much out on quarterback Baker Mayfield, who wasn't the problem in Sunday's loss but has not indicated he can carry the offense on his back. Elite quarterbacks—those worthy of lucrative second contracts—succeed more often than not even when their supporting casts let them down. On Sunday, Mayfield couldn't overcome severe reliability issues within the receiving corps, and that's a concern with his $18.9 million option year looming in 2022. 

I won't fault the Browns for giving Mayfield more time, but it would be foolish to do so without revamping his receiving corps. Odell Beckham Jr. and Jarvis Landry again failed to haul in several potentially critical (and catchable) passes in Sunday's loss. Beckham caught just a single six-yard pass while Landry had merely five receptions on 10 targets. 

Both are shells of their former selves, and expensive ones at that.

The Browns need to move on from both, as soon as possible. General manager Andrew Berry should make both available ahead of Tuesday's trade deadline, and he shouldn't drive a hard bargain. He can save himself more than $30 million in 2022 salary-cap space by moving both. Because both have often done more harm than good, the goal should simply be to save that cash for a run at one or several high-quality targets next offseason. 

Biting that bullet would hurt because Cleveland's season is far from over despite the poor first half. And sure, if they can land a game-changing replacement for Landry or Beckham this week, they oughta pull the trigger and go all-in on the second half of the season. Doing that would also enable them to better gauge Mayfield's progress in his fourth season. 

But even if they can't land an established standout receiver like Allen Robinson or Will Fuller at the deadline, Beckham and Landry have to go. The alternative will leave them in football purgatory as a middle-of-the-pack non-contender, and there's nothing satisfying about that now that they've had a sniff of playoff success. 

They're better off throwing in the towel on 2021, especially because that'd bolster their draft capital and give them more time to focus on chasing replacements for Beckham and Landry in the spring, when Robinson is slated to hit free agency alongside All-Pro Davante Adams and former Pro Bowlers Chris Godwin and Courtland Sutton. 

So rip off the Band-Aid now. Throw Mayfield to the wolves and see how he responds. A temporarily diminished receiving corps could help him grow in the long run, and his offensive line is strong enough that you wouldn't be putting him in significantly more danger by forcing him to rely more heavily on Rashard Higgins, David Njoku and Austin Hooper in the final nine games of the season. 

I'm not suggesting the Browns have to blow it all up. Their long, intense rebuild looks rather successful, but it's important to remain flexible with what the final product of that rebuild looks like. Running back Nick Chubb is a star, the line is tremendous and the retooled defense is becoming an asset. Head coach Kevin Stefanski is a superb play-caller, and this regime has done a lot of things right.

Mayfield is a product of the previous regime, and it's still unclear if he's the long-term answer, but he was remarkably consistent and reliable without Beckham down the stretch in 2020. The Browns would be foolish to bail on him right now, but they need to give him something new and different to work with. 

And they shouldn't wait to make that happen.

Brad Gagnon has covered the NFL for Bleacher Report since 2012. Follow him on Twitter: @Brad_Gagnon.