A story last week indicated the Saints, in need of a quarterback, might have interest in Baker Mayfield. The former Brown, Panther and Ram will, according to the story, also draw interest as a possibility for the Ravens (should they move on from Lamar Jackson). Supposedly.
Mayfield did have a couple of nice outings for the Rams, knocking off the Raiders and Broncos in two of his games after joining the team. But he also lost convincingly to the Packers and Chargers. Looking at the entirety of his career, it looks like Mayfield does worst when asked to do most.
I pulled out all of his career games; over the past five seasons, there have been 72 where he's either started or played extensively. In 31 of those games, he's passed for more than 230 yards, and when he's done more as a passer, more of the bad things have occurred as well.
In those 31 games, he threw 57 touchdowns, which is something, but he also threw 32 interceptions, so more than 1 per game. He took at least 4 sacks in a quarter of those, and his teams went 14-17.
| MAYFIELD PASSING FOR OVER 230 YARDS | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Opp | Result | Cmp | Att | Yds | TD | Int | Sk |
| 2018 | at Hou. | L 13-29 | 29 | 43 | 397 | 1 | 3 | 0 |
| 2018 | at Bal. | L 24-26 | 23 | 42 | 376 | 3 | 3 | 0 |
| 2020 | Bal. | L 42-47 | 28 | 47 | 343 | 2 | 1 | 0 |
| 2018 | Bal. | W 12-9 | 25 | 43 | 342 | 1 | 1 | 5 |
| 2019 | at Bal. | W 40-25 | 20 | 30 | 342 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 2020 | at Ten. | W 41-35 | 25 | 33 | 334 | 4 | 0 | 0 |
| 2019 | Mia. | W 41-24 | 24 | 34 | 327 | 3 | 1 | 1 |
| 2019 | at NYJ | W 23-3 | 19 | 35 | 325 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| 2021 | at K.C. | L 29-33 | 21 | 28 | 321 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 2021 | at LAC | L 42-47 | 23 | 32 | 305 | 2 | 0 | 1 |
| 2018 | K.C. | L 21-37 | 29 | 42 | 297 | 2 | 1 | 2 |
| 2020 | at Cin. | W 37-34 | 22 | 28 | 297 | 5 | 1 | 0 |
| 2020 | at NYG | W 20-6 | 27 | 32 | 297 | 2 | 0 | 1 |
| 2018 | at Oak. | L 42-45 | 21 | 41 | 295 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| 2019 | Ten. | L 13-43 | 25 | 38 | 285 | 1 | 3 | 5 |
| 2020 | at NYJ | L 16-23 | 28 | 53 | 285 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| 2018 | Cin. | W 26-18 | 27 | 37 | 284 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| 2019 | at Cin. | L 23-33 | 12 | 27 | 279 | 3 | 3 | 6 |
| 2019 | at Den. | L 19-24 | 27 | 42 | 273 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| 2018 | at Cin. | W 35-20 | 19 | 26 | 258 | 4 | 0 | 0 |
| 2020 | at Jac. | W 27-25 | 19 | 29 | 258 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 2019 | Sea. | L 28-32 | 22 | 37 | 249 | 1 | 3 | 0 |
| 2019 | at Ari. | L 24-38 | 30 | 43 | 247 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| 2020 | Ind. | W 32-23 | 21 | 37 | 247 | 2 | 2 | 1 |
| 2021 | at Bal. | L 10-16 | 18 | 37 | 247 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| 2021 | Chi. | W 26-6 | 19 | 31 | 246 | 1 | 0 | 5 |
| 2018 | LAC | L 14-38 | 22 | 46 | 238 | 1 | 2 | 5 |
| 2018 | Car. | W 26-20 | 18 | 22 | 238 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 2019 | Buf. | W 19-16 | 26 | 38 | 238 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 2022 | Cle. | L 24-26 | 16 | 27 | 235 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| 2021 | Ari. | L 14-37 | 19 | 28 | 234 | 2 | 1 | 5 |
| Record | 14-17 | TD/Int | 57 | 32 | ||||
In the 41 games where Mayfield passed for fewer than 230 yards, in contrast, his teams fared better. They went 20-21, and Mayfield also threw 32 interceptions -- but in 10 more games. Arguably the Browns figured out they were better off with Mayfield doing less, in terms of winning games and cutting down on mistakes in the passing game.
Mayfield will be on a roster in 2023, but I don't think anyone is going to bring him in planning on him being a Week 1 starter. That ship has sailed. He'll be a veteran backup somewhere, at best a fall-back option for a team that has a developing youngster or rookie on the roster. He won't be getting a job until after the landing spots for Rodgers, Carr and Garoppolo, at a minimum, are determined.
--Andy Richardson