A different opinion of Baker Mayfield

By STEVE KING
Let’s not bury Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield just yet.
That seems to be what a lot — a whole lot — of people are doing right now, and while I can understand that to some degree, especially in coming off that one-sided loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers last Sunday, I prefer to wait until the season is over and the full body of work in his third year in the NFL is completed.
Why?
Because:
*The Browns are 4-2, not 2-4 or 1-5 or 0-6, and they are still very much in the hunt for an AFC playoff berth. It’s not the time to start coming down too harshly on the starting quarterback of a team like that.
*They have a pretty easy schedule, record-wise at least, coming up, and I want to see how Mayfield and the Browns do. Will there be a bounce-back, beginning with Sunday’s road game against the Cincinnati Bengals?
 *I want to see how head coach Kevin Stefanski handles Mayfield. He kept saying following Sunday’s game that it was on him to put Baker into better situations, that he needed to do a better job of preparing him. OK, but why wasn’t that done last week in the days leading up to the Pittsburgh game? The Steelers have been running that same defense for years. The Browns had to know what was coming, but they were ill-prepared to handle it. Whose fault is that? To me, that’s on Stefanski and his offensive coaches, especially offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach Alex Van Pelt.
*And finally, I believe — strongly so — that Mayfield is the right quarterback to get the Browns where they want to go. I will continue to say that until I am convinced otherwise. Now, are these next 10 games crucial for him? Well, yes, of course, but his history is that he’s always done his best when he’s been doubted, and I think he will do that again this time.