Baker Mayfield wants reassurance that things will change, or he'll ask for a trade

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Clickbait. You and many other Cleveland local media continue to be drama stirring reporters with no sources or facts. Don’t put words in my mouth so you can put food on your table. I’m not your puppet.

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Mayfield’s issues with Stefanski bubbled below the surface most of the season, with Mayfield feeling like Stefanski’s playcalling didn’t always put him in position to succeed or play to his strengths, sources told cleveland.com.

Stefanski didn’t necessarily dispute that Tuesday after announcing that Mayfield would sit out the season finale against the Bengals and have his torn labrum repaired as soon as possible. If Mayfield’s shoulder specialist, Dr. Orr Limpisvasti of the Cedars-Sinai Kerlan-Jobe Institute in Los Angeles, can squeeze him in this week, Mayfield will board the soonest flight out.

Dating back to October, Mayfield felt the run-heavy, three-tight end scheme didn’t play to his strengths, and Stefanski wasn’t calling enough of the play-action bootlegs that Mayfield excelled at last season. The discord escalated to the point where Mayfield at times would’ve preferred offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt call the plays. But Stefanski kept the responsibility, and Mayfield grew increasingly frustrated.

As the season wore down, Mayfield publicly criticized the playcalling on at least two occasions, saying after the 24-22 victory over the Ravens that the calls “got too conservative” and after the 26-14 loss to the Steelers that rookie right tackle James Hudson III wasn’t given enough chipping help against T.J. Watt, who recorded four of the Steelers’ nine sacks. Like Myles Garrett before him, Mayfield lamented the lack of in-game adjustments to the Steelers’ pressure.

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If Mayfield doesn’t get reassurance that things will change next season, he’ll consider asking to be traded. He’s under contract for $18.858 million in his fifth-year option year, but at this point, it’s uncertain if the Browns even view him as their starter for 2022.

If they went strictly by the numbers, they’d certainly conclude that Mayfield isn’t the quarterback to win Super Bowls. He’s 27th with an 83.1 QB rating, having completed just 60.5 percent of his attempts for 28th in the NFL, 17 touchdowns and 13 interceptions.

His stats in clutch situations are worse: He’s 35th in fourth-quarter passing with a 50.9 completion percentage and 64.5 rating, and 30th in third-down passing with a 50% completion percentage, three touchdowns, six interceptions and a 52.5 rating. He’s 0-5 this season in potential gamewinning drives.

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