During a recent appearance on Pittsburgh sports radio station 93.7 The Fan, CBS Sports NFL insider Aditi Kinkhabwala touched upon what Cleveland Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski allegedly thought about Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield following the 2021 season.
"Baker wasn't a bust," Kinkhabwala said about Mayfield's Cleveland tenure that began when the club made him the first overall pick of the 2018 draft, per Matthew Marczi of Steelers Depot. "Baker, in some ways, got screwed. I do know for a fact, in conversations that I directly had with Kevin Stefanski, that Kevin Stefanski had no issues moving forward with Baker Mayfield, had no doubts moving forward with Baker Mayfield."
Stefanski earned NFL Coach of the Year Award honors for the first time after he and Mayfield guided the 2020 Browns to a playoff berth and a road postseason victory at the Pittsburgh Steelers.
However, Mayfield struggled throughout the 2021 campaign while playing with an injury to his non-throwing shoulder. Suggestions arose in January 2022 claiming his working relationship with Stefanski wasn't on the best of terms at that time.
In March 2022, Cleveland controversially replaced Mayfield atop the depth chart by acquiring Deshaun Watson from the Houston Texans. Kinkhabwala hinted that Browns owner Jimmy Haslam convinced general manager Andrew Berry to pull the trigger on a move that Stefanski may or may not have made.
"The franchise as a whole, the organization as a whole, decided that they wanted to go in a different direction," Kinkhabwala added about the Browns moving on from Mayfield.
Cleveland landing Watson and then signing him to a fully guaranteed five-year, $230M contract could go down as the biggest mistake made by the club's current regime depending on all that occurs over the next 12 months or so.
While with the Browns, Watson thus far has served an 11-game suspension related to allegations of sexual misconduct during massage sessions, suffered a season-ending shoulder injury and has made just 12 total meaningful starts.
Meanwhile, Mayfield became a Comeback Player of the Year candidate for his first season with the Buccaneers en route to the two sides signing a new deal this past March.
Fair or not, Mayfield and Watson will continue to be linked with each other as long as the latter remains attached to the Browns.
