Give Mayfield his money

By STEVE KING

There is no perfect quarterback in the NFL.
And there never has been.
Not even Tom Brady, Patrick Mahomes or Aaron Rodgers now, nor even John Unitas, Joe Montana or Dan Marino in the past.
There never will be a perfect one, either. You can wait until … well, uh, Tampa Bay freezes over if you so choose, but you’ll be wasting your time because he’s not walking through the door — ever. Guaranteed.
They all have flaws, or had flaws, or will have flaws..

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So, then, the best a team can hope for is to get a very good one, and the Browns — finally, at long last (play the “Hallelujah Chorus” — have gotten themselves a very good one. His name is Baker Mayfield.
As such, I don’t understand all the wringing of hands and gnashing of teeth in some corners — some, not all, mind you — over whether or not the Browns should re-up Mayfield and give him a big, fat contract extension, the kind you hand to your franchise guy, because he’s their franchise guy.
I hear this: “Maybe the Browns should save their money, spend it to fortify all the other positions around him and string Mayfield’s time out here as long as they can.”
Hmmm.
You’re kidding, right?
I certainly hope so.
You can fortify all the other positions around him until you’re blue in the face, but until you secure your quarterback — until you lock in and pay him so there’s no doubt in anyone’s mind that he’s the guy — you’re just a Super Bowl pretender, a Super Bowl wanna-be.
For the first time in 18 years, the Browns this past season made the playoffs. And they did so because of Mayfield. Without him, they don’t make it. They just don’t.
What’s so hard to grasp about that?
Well, of course, you pay him.
And to as much as even insinuate anything else is completely silly. It’s making a big story when there isn’t one to make. This hyping a story that doesn’t exist — to create fake news, controversy and dilemmas — is the kind of stuff that gives sports reporting a bad name at times.