CLEVELAND, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – The Browns will move into the offseason full steam ahead with the expectation that Baker Mayfield will be their starter next season.
Browns executive vice president of football operations and general manager Andrew Berry was pretty clear and concise about how he is approaching this offseason concerning Mayfield.
“We fully expect baker to be our starter and to bounce back,” Berry said Tuesday.
Mayfield is scheduled to undergo surgery next week to repair the torn left labrum he played nearly the entire season with but limited him and the Browns from achieving their goals.
“We’re looking forward to baker getting healthy in the offseason and then putting in good work through the spring and with his coaches for having the type of season we know he can have,” Berry said.
With Mayfield limited by the injury, the offense fell apart and the Browns finished the season 8-9, missing the playoffs a year after going 11-5 and advancing to the divisional round.
Mayfield will enter the fifth and final year of his rookie contract that will pay him 18.858 million potentially without a new deal coming this offseason but Berry pushed back on the notion that Mayfield would be a lame duck quarterback.
“We have a lot of guys that will have gone into their final year or something along those lines,” Berry said. “That’s not something that really goes into the calculus for us. Every year you’ll have guys that are on expiring deals.”
Mayfield started the season leading the NFL in completion percentage through the first two weeks but fell off after suffering the injury against the Texans in Week 2.
Through the Cardinals loss, Mayfield was completing 67% of his passes for 1,474 yards with 6 touchdowns, 3 interceptions and he had been sacked 18 times. The Browns were 3-3 but averaging 26 points per game.
Over his final eight starts that saw the Browns lose five of eight and average just 17.6 points per game, Mayfield completed 55.9% of his passes for 1,536 yards with 11 touchdowns and 10 interceptions. He was sacked 25 times and fumbled twice.
Berry believes a healthy and rejuvenated Mayfield will lead them back to the postseason.
“We’ve been with Baker for a long period of time,” Berry said. “We know his work ethic. We know his drive. We’ve seen him as a talented passer in this league and we’re looking forward to him getting healthy and continuing to make improvements and we expect him to bounce back next year.”