Is Baker Mayfield the guy?

By STEVE KING

Many things that are said in pro sports are done so for a reason.
In that regard, then, I’m not sure what the reason was for Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski’s season-ending assessment of Baker Mayfield the other day, when he praised the third-year pro but stopped just short of labeling him the team’s franchise quarterback.
Perhaps it was to light a fire under Mayfield, for he seems to play his best when he is doubted.
Perhaps it had to do with his contract, being a negotiating ploy of some sort.
Or perhaps he really felt, and meant, what he said.
It could be any, or all, of those things. I just don’t know.
But I can tell you this: no matter what Stefanski or General Manager Andrew Berry or even owners Jimmy Haslam say, have said or will say in the future, Mayfield is the franchise quarterback for whom the Browns have longed searched in this expansion era. There is absolutely, positively no question about it. It is obvious.
He has exuded that on the field, and off it. He exuded that down the stretch in the regular season, especially in the playoff-clinching win over Pittsburgh and even more so in the solid punchout of the Steelers in the opening round of the postseason, and then after that in the narrow loss to the defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs in the divisional round.
Forget the analytics and all the other stuff for a minute. Just do the eye test and use a little common sense, and when you do, Mayfield comes out with flying colors for his grades.
The Browns don’t do all they did this season without Mayfield. There’s no way in the world.
He’s the face of the team. He’s the guy around whom the team has been built, and will continue to be built.
The Browns have holes to fill and problems to address, almost exclusively on defense. That’s a given.
But Baker Mayfield is not one of them in any way, shape or form, and to even insinuate otherwise — for whatever reason — is utter nonsense.