CLEVELAND, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – With Baker Mayfield’s fifth year option officially exercised, the focus now turns to a possible contract extension.
It goes without saying that after Mayfield helped end the franchise’s playoff drought, owners Dee and Jimmy Haslam like where their quarterback is as he enters his fourth NFL season.
That said, they’re staying away from the contract situation and leaving that up to executive vice president of football operations and general manager Andrew Berry.
“I think we were all pleased to see the growth in Baker last year as a player and as a leader,” Jimmy Haslam said. “I think we all understand how important quarterback is in the NFL, so we were delighted to see that.
“Baker deserves the fifth-year option, and I think he and Andrew have both addressed the possibility of things after that, and we’ll leave that up to Andrew to decide when that happens. But we’re pleased with where Baker is.”
With head coach Kevin Stefanski and offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt returning with the rest of the staff, Mayfield’s growth is expected to continue.
“I will be honest, we are really excited to see what [They can do],” Jimmy Haslam said. “Kevin… AVP and Baker, and if you think about it, we have our entire offense back and we have our entire coaching staff back, except one of our offensive quality control individuals who went to be a coach at Yale. To have that type of continuity, which we started to get here, on offense going into this second year with Kevin and Baker, we are really excited to see.”
Sleep well – With Stefanski and Berry leading the Browns, the Haslam’s can sleep well these days, a far cry from the challenges they’ve faced with previous regimes.
“What is so great about those two individuals is just how well they work together, with all of us and with everybody in the organization,” Dee Haslam said. “They are very collaborative, and they are just great to work with.”
Stefanski was named the NFL’s Coach of the Year in his first season while Berry helped round out a roster that ended the franchise’s 18-year playoff drought and won the first playoff game in 26 years.
“We had all known Andrew, but we had never seen him as the top person,” Jimmy Haslam said. “He was 33 when he first became GM, and he is 34 now. To see him at such a young age take control of our personnel group and lead it the way he did, and the same thing with Kevin… Kevin had been with the organization for 12-13 years and had never been a head coach anywhere. Yet, if you came to practice that first day or heard his first talk to the team, you would never think, ‘Well, I can tell this guy is new.’
“They both stepped right in, they are natural leaders, they are very calm, they are thoughtful, and they plan and organize things well. I do not want to say it was a surprise because we had our expectations, but they surpassed expectations in terms of becoming the top person in personnel and the head coach in the NFL.”
London calling, again? – The Browns could have played in London last season and with the league expanding the schedule this year, are the Browns set to head overseas in 2021?
“I do not think we are playing overseas this year,” Jimmy Haslam said. “I do not think anybody is because of COVID. I think the NFL has announced that there will be four games out of the country, and it will be rotated. I think going forward – it used to be teams that wanted to give up a home game or had been promised a new stadium or a new Super Bowl – and I think it is going to rotate evenly and it will come off of the group that has nine home games, if you will. There will not be any in 2021.”
Staying out of it – With the old warehouses demolished to make way for the NFL Draft theater, the space across from FirstEnergy Stadium has opened the lakefront up for potential development but it doesn’t sound like the Haslams will be leading that charge.
“What we hope over a period of time — and there are preliminary plans underway — is to connect downtown to the lakefront in a much better, more convenient way, particularly for pedestrian but also for cars and we hope this will further the opening up of the lakefront,” Jimmy Haslam said. “We’ll leave what should be developed down there to others but I think we would all agree that better ingress, egress to that area will help FirstEnergy Stadium, the Browns and all of the events we have, but will help develop that area.”
With the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and Great Lakes Science Center close by, the timing feels ripe to finally make the lakefront a feature attraction for the city.
“Just opening that whole area to the entire community and to the city, it’s beautiful,” Dee Haslam said. “showcasing Lake Erie and having events there is going to provide some opportunity for other people and we’re excited about that.”
Notable quotable – “It is huge, and it is impressive. I happened to drive by it yesterday, and they were showing (RB) Nick Chubb running for a touchdown. Hell, I got fired up just seeing that.” Jimmy Haslam on the draft theater and stage.