"It's a collective stupidity on the part of this league" - Skip Bayless critical of teams not showing interest in Baker Mayfield
While it seems like most teams and analysts aren't fans of Baker Mayfield, one analyst who constantly defends him is Skip Bayless. Ever since the Cleveland Browns acquired Deshaun Watson from the Houston Texans, Mayfield has received a lot of negative backlash in the media as a distraction, a bad teammate, and a quarterback who underperformered last year.
Browns and Texans still are finalizing official trade compensation for Deshaun Watson, but it is expected to include three first-round picks, a third-round pick and potentially a fifth-round pick, league sources tell ESPN.
Five picks for Watson.
Skip Bayless defended Mayfield on Undisputed and is critical about teams not liking him.
Bayless said:
"I have told you before that Baker Mayfield has now turned into the most undervalued asset on the open market in the history of this league given what he has proven in this league already. That's their fault. It's not my fault. It's a collective stupidity on the part of this league. Somehow, this league practices what I call 'sheep think.'
"They're a bunch of sheep, but once one team says, 'I don't know about Baker Mayfield,' then another team (says the same thing). In other words, if they don't like him, maybe I shouldn't like him. And if they don't like him, then we shouldn't like him over here. And now nobody likes him and it's so late in the musical chairs game. There are really no chairs left except for Pete Carroll's chair."
Baker Mayfield led the Browns to their first playoff victory in over 25 years
While it seems the Browns have moved on Mayfield, he's done something that no other Browns quarterback has done in the last 25 years. Just two seasons ago, Mayfield led the Browns to a 11-5 regular-season record.
Baker Mayfield was 11-5 and won a playoff game 3 years removed from 0-16 and local radio wants Mitch Trubisky. #Browns
He led the Browns to the playoffs and picked up a 48-37 victory over the Steelers in the wildcard round. In that game, Mayfield shone and threw 21 of 34 for 263 yards and three touchdowns.
In the next round of the playoffs in the Divisional Round against the Kansas City Chiefs, Mayfield and the Browns fell short as they lost 22-17. In the loss, Mayfield threw for 204 yards, one touchdown, and one interception.
Last season, Mayfield regressed from his 2021 playoff campaign. Mayfield injured his shoulder early on in the season against the Texans but played through most of the season with the injury. That didn't pay dividends as the Browns went 6-8 with him as their starter, and he threw for the second worst completion percentage (60.5) and had the second lowest passer rating (83.1) of his career.