In the world of professional sports, everyone who plays at the highest level is a near-superhuman athlete. To play a single minute -- hell, to even get a roster spot -- on a team in the NFL, NBA, NHL, or almost any league, you need to be in the 99th percentile of athletes in your position. Yes, there are exceptions, but this point still mostly holds.
So what separates the good athletes from the truly great ones? What’s the difference between the “just fine” players (the Kirk Cousinses, Jimmy Garoppolos, and Ryan Tannehills of the world) and, say, Joe Montana?
Largely, the answer lies in their mentality.
No, your mental fortitude isn’t absolutely everything -- even if I had the most killer-instinct mindset imaginable, I’d wager Julio Jones would still have a better NFL career than me. However, between those already in the 99th percentile, how you study, prepare, and visualize success is often the deciding factor between having a solid career and having a Hall-of-Fame one.
Perhaps most importantly of all in an athlete’s mentality is how they motivate themselves to keep going, to stay hungry, and to just want it more -- even if they’ve won every trophy there is.
It’s a common theme in the careers of Michael Jordan and Tom Brady, for instance. Serial winners like them have a near-psychotic obsession with competing and winning, and need only the slightest bit of “bulletin board” material to piss them off and fuel their performance.
Sometimes they themselves concoct their own disrespect and begin to believe it, just to feel something.
I assume you’ve read the title of this article and are now scratching your head at this lede, so let me be very clear: Baker Mayfield is not Tom Brady. Not even close. He’s not even close to being Doug Flutie. In his short NFL career, he’s largely been a pedestrian quarterback with poor pocket presence, an average arm, and a reliance on support from a strong running game and an elite offensive line.
However, not many people in the league are more motivated by disrespect than Baker is. And no player has been more disrespected this offseason than Baker has been by his old team, the Cleveland Browns -- who he will just so happen to play against to open the season after it was announced that he won the QB1 job in Carolina.
The year is 2013. Barack Obama is the President of the United States. Microsoft has just bought Nokia and will surely become a player in the cellphone industry. Daft Punk’s “Get Lucky” plays on the radio every time you’re in the car. And three-star QB prospect Baker Mayfield has decided to walk-on at Texas Tech.
Photo by: Tim Heitman/USA Today Sports
Mayfield played high school ball at Lake Travis High School, around 20 miles outside of Austin. Though he’s one of the best football players the school has ever produced, Mayfield failed to truly “wow” scouts and received offers only from FAU, New Mexico, and Rice. He opted instead to try to walk on in Lubbock with a more established football program rather than accept a scholarship from one of those three other schools.
He sought to prove himself to people that would be difficult, or nearly impossible, to please. In some ways this is the story of Baker Mayfield’s whole career.
Baker unexpectedly was thrust into the starting job on Week 1 as a true freshman -- something which is exceedingly rare as a walk-on QB -- after the projected starter Michael Brewer went down with an injury. (Brewer, coincidentally, also played high school football at Lake Travis.)
Mayfield had no intent to ever relinquish the starting gig to his former high school classmate, however, as he stormed out of the gates to throw for nearly 1500 yards and to lead the Red Raiders to a 5-0 record.
Unfortunately, Mayfield picked up an injury during their Week 5 victory over Kansas. He didn’t know it at the time, but this was the beginning of the end of his time at the school.
Mayfield ended up missing four games due to his knee ailment, during which time his team went 2-2, but he alleges that he could’ve suited up even sooner if his coach had communicated better with him.
In an interview with ESPN, Baker said, “When I got hurt, there was no communication between me and my coach… When I got healthy, I didn’t know why I wasn’t playing right away. At that time, we were losing a couple games in a row. I was still clueless as to why I wasn’t playing. That was really frustrating for me because I started the first five games and we won. So, I just didn’t really know exactly what he was thinking or what the situation was.”
The head coach of TTU at the time? Kliff Kingsbury, current head coach of the Arizona Cardinals, and part-time babysitter of Kyler Murray. Murray, funnily enough, also played under Kingsbury at Texas Tech in 2015, and like Mayfield transferred after one season to Oklahoma where for two years he served as a backup to… Baker Mayfield.
Small-world musings aside, Mayfield eventually settled back into the starting job after returning from injury and finished with a pretty strong year by true freshman standards. Kingsbury and Texas Tech, though, chose not to offer a scholarship to Mayfield. This ended up working out great for Kingsbury, as his starting quarterback for most of the next three years was a guy named Patrick Mahomes (heard of him?).
Baker thus decided to transfer, taking his talents to the University of Oklahoma where an ugly battle against NCAA and Big 12 transfer eligibility rules ensued and caused him to have to sit out the 2014 season and lose a year of eligibility (he later got a rule named after him to prevent other players in a similar position from going through this ordeal, so it’s not all bad).
This situation is explained in more depth in this great SBNation article, but the long and the short of it all is that Mayfield felt extremely slighted by Texas Tech. And after transferring to an in-conference rival, he felt compelled to stick it to them -- and to every other team in the nation, just for kicks.
Throughout the rest of his college career following his transfer, as well as in the NFL, Mayfield has been open about hearing criticism thrown his way and seeking to prove his critics wrong. He’s constantly fueled by doubters; whether or not this has led to a successful professional career is up in the air, but this mindset of his is most assuredly not. This is just who Baker Mayfield is.
Photo by: Jim Dedmon/USA Today Sports
Mayfield has every right to be upset with the Cleveland Browns, and after outdueling Sam Darnold in training camp, he’s in line to start Week 1 against his former employer. Whether or not Mayfield resuscitates his NFL career over the course of this season is an open question. But there will be no question about his drive and his motivation to succeed and to make the Browns look as foolish as possible.
Baker Mayfield has always been a player fueled by sheer spite, and there’s not a single person in the league right now who has a better reason to be spiteful than him. His entire career, maybe even his entire life, has led to this exact moment in time -- a perfect storm of events creating the possibility of sweet karmic vengeance. And I, for one, will be rooting to see him make it happen. ■
So what separates the good athletes from the truly great ones? What’s the difference between the “just fine” players (the Kirk Cousinses, Jimmy Garoppolos, and Ryan Tannehills of the world) and, say, Joe Montana?
Largely, the answer lies in their mentality.
No, your mental fortitude isn’t absolutely everything -- even if I had the most killer-instinct mindset imaginable, I’d wager Julio Jones would still have a better NFL career than me. However, between those already in the 99th percentile, how you study, prepare, and visualize success is often the deciding factor between having a solid career and having a Hall-of-Fame one.
Perhaps most importantly of all in an athlete’s mentality is how they motivate themselves to keep going, to stay hungry, and to just want it more -- even if they’ve won every trophy there is.
It’s a common theme in the careers of Michael Jordan and Tom Brady, for instance. Serial winners like them have a near-psychotic obsession with competing and winning, and need only the slightest bit of “bulletin board” material to piss them off and fuel their performance.
Sometimes they themselves concoct their own disrespect and begin to believe it, just to feel something.
I assume you’ve read the title of this article and are now scratching your head at this lede, so let me be very clear: Baker Mayfield is not Tom Brady. Not even close. He’s not even close to being Doug Flutie. In his short NFL career, he’s largely been a pedestrian quarterback with poor pocket presence, an average arm, and a reliance on support from a strong running game and an elite offensive line.
However, not many people in the league are more motivated by disrespect than Baker is. And no player has been more disrespected this offseason than Baker has been by his old team, the Cleveland Browns -- who he will just so happen to play against to open the season after it was announced that he won the QB1 job in Carolina.
Mayfield suffered a shoulder injury early last season and tried to play through it every week to prove himself to the Browns and to the league as a whole. Admirable as his intentions may have been, it ended up being a poor decision as he was largely terrible the entire season and his value tanked.
Photo by: Ronald Martinez/Getty Images
RBSDM has his CPOE (Completion Percentage Over Expected) as 4th-worst in the entire league last year, and they chart his Success Rate -- essentially the percentage of plays that constitute a value-add toward scoring points -- as 6th-worst. This is despite having the 8th-best offensive line, according to PFF (though some ranked the unit as high as #1 in the league) and perhaps the best running back duo in the NFL in Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt.
In both of the aforementioned metrics, he ranked below quarterbacks like Daniel Jones, Jared Goff, and Taylor Heinicke despite having a far superior supporting cast.
When asked to shoulder more responsibility for the offense, Mayfield’s stats look even uglier; since entering the league in 2018, he ranks 6th-worst in EPA+CPOE composite among all qualified QBs on third and fourth downs, per RBSDM.
Interestingly enough, Mayfield’s rookie season in the NFL was a revelation. After the Browns selected him with the top pick in the 2018 NFL Draft, he came off the bench in Week 3 and won his debut game to snap Cleveland’s infamous 19-game losing streak (which includes the league’s second-ever 0-16 season in 2017).
He went on to break the rookie passing TDs record previously held by the likes of Peyton Manning and Russell Wilson, but most importantly he had the most tortured fanbase in the NFL believing again -- believing that finally, their quest to find “the answer” at QB was over. Unfortunately, it has now become clear that Baker’s rookie year wasn’t a sign of things to come, but rather an outlier.
Filter out his rookie year and Mayfield’s stats fare even worse. He drops to second-worst in CPOE+EPA composite on third and fourth downs, only ahead of Sam Darnold (his new backup QB!). In these three seasons he has a negative CPOE, at -0.9%, putting him 33rd among all qualified quarterbacks during that span; this is despite the fact that pinpoint accuracy was pretty much his entire scouting report while in college.
Photo by: Ronald Martinez/Getty Images
RBSDM has his CPOE (Completion Percentage Over Expected) as 4th-worst in the entire league last year, and they chart his Success Rate -- essentially the percentage of plays that constitute a value-add toward scoring points -- as 6th-worst. This is despite having the 8th-best offensive line, according to PFF (though some ranked the unit as high as #1 in the league) and perhaps the best running back duo in the NFL in Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt.
In both of the aforementioned metrics, he ranked below quarterbacks like Daniel Jones, Jared Goff, and Taylor Heinicke despite having a far superior supporting cast.
When asked to shoulder more responsibility for the offense, Mayfield’s stats look even uglier; since entering the league in 2018, he ranks 6th-worst in EPA+CPOE composite among all qualified QBs on third and fourth downs, per RBSDM.
Interestingly enough, Mayfield’s rookie season in the NFL was a revelation. After the Browns selected him with the top pick in the 2018 NFL Draft, he came off the bench in Week 3 and won his debut game to snap Cleveland’s infamous 19-game losing streak (which includes the league’s second-ever 0-16 season in 2017).
He went on to break the rookie passing TDs record previously held by the likes of Peyton Manning and Russell Wilson, but most importantly he had the most tortured fanbase in the NFL believing again -- believing that finally, their quest to find “the answer” at QB was over. Unfortunately, it has now become clear that Baker’s rookie year wasn’t a sign of things to come, but rather an outlier.
Filter out his rookie year and Mayfield’s stats fare even worse. He drops to second-worst in CPOE+EPA composite on third and fourth downs, only ahead of Sam Darnold (his new backup QB!). In these three seasons he has a negative CPOE, at -0.9%, putting him 33rd among all qualified quarterbacks during that span; this is despite the fact that pinpoint accuracy was pretty much his entire scouting report while in college.
Mayfield had a storied college career at Oklahoma. In both 2016 and 2017 he led the entire NCAA in completion percentage and yards per attempt. He ranks 7th all-time in NCAA career passing yards and 4th all-time in passing TDs -- sprinkle in his rushing TDs and he ranks 2nd all-time in total TDs in college football history.
He led Oklahoma to the College Football Playoff as a junior and won the Heisman in his senior year, later going #1 overall in the draft to Cleveland. Before ascending to superstardom in Norman, however, there was a fascinating hiccup in his athletic career that shaped him into what he is today, for better or for worse.
He led Oklahoma to the College Football Playoff as a junior and won the Heisman in his senior year, later going #1 overall in the draft to Cleveland. Before ascending to superstardom in Norman, however, there was a fascinating hiccup in his athletic career that shaped him into what he is today, for better or for worse.
The year is 2013. Barack Obama is the President of the United States. Microsoft has just bought Nokia and will surely become a player in the cellphone industry. Daft Punk’s “Get Lucky” plays on the radio every time you’re in the car. And three-star QB prospect Baker Mayfield has decided to walk-on at Texas Tech.
Photo by: Tim Heitman/USA Today Sports
Mayfield played high school ball at Lake Travis High School, around 20 miles outside of Austin. Though he’s one of the best football players the school has ever produced, Mayfield failed to truly “wow” scouts and received offers only from FAU, New Mexico, and Rice. He opted instead to try to walk on in Lubbock with a more established football program rather than accept a scholarship from one of those three other schools.
He sought to prove himself to people that would be difficult, or nearly impossible, to please. In some ways this is the story of Baker Mayfield’s whole career.
Baker unexpectedly was thrust into the starting job on Week 1 as a true freshman -- something which is exceedingly rare as a walk-on QB -- after the projected starter Michael Brewer went down with an injury. (Brewer, coincidentally, also played high school football at Lake Travis.)
Mayfield had no intent to ever relinquish the starting gig to his former high school classmate, however, as he stormed out of the gates to throw for nearly 1500 yards and to lead the Red Raiders to a 5-0 record.
Unfortunately, Mayfield picked up an injury during their Week 5 victory over Kansas. He didn’t know it at the time, but this was the beginning of the end of his time at the school.
Mayfield ended up missing four games due to his knee ailment, during which time his team went 2-2, but he alleges that he could’ve suited up even sooner if his coach had communicated better with him.
In an interview with ESPN, Baker said, “When I got hurt, there was no communication between me and my coach… When I got healthy, I didn’t know why I wasn’t playing right away. At that time, we were losing a couple games in a row. I was still clueless as to why I wasn’t playing. That was really frustrating for me because I started the first five games and we won. So, I just didn’t really know exactly what he was thinking or what the situation was.”
The head coach of TTU at the time? Kliff Kingsbury, current head coach of the Arizona Cardinals, and part-time babysitter of Kyler Murray. Murray, funnily enough, also played under Kingsbury at Texas Tech in 2015, and like Mayfield transferred after one season to Oklahoma where for two years he served as a backup to… Baker Mayfield.
Small-world musings aside, Mayfield eventually settled back into the starting job after returning from injury and finished with a pretty strong year by true freshman standards. Kingsbury and Texas Tech, though, chose not to offer a scholarship to Mayfield. This ended up working out great for Kingsbury, as his starting quarterback for most of the next three years was a guy named Patrick Mahomes (heard of him?).
Baker thus decided to transfer, taking his talents to the University of Oklahoma where an ugly battle against NCAA and Big 12 transfer eligibility rules ensued and caused him to have to sit out the 2014 season and lose a year of eligibility (he later got a rule named after him to prevent other players in a similar position from going through this ordeal, so it’s not all bad).
This situation is explained in more depth in this great SBNation article, but the long and the short of it all is that Mayfield felt extremely slighted by Texas Tech. And after transferring to an in-conference rival, he felt compelled to stick it to them -- and to every other team in the nation, just for kicks.
Throughout the rest of his college career following his transfer, as well as in the NFL, Mayfield has been open about hearing criticism thrown his way and seeking to prove his critics wrong. He’s constantly fueled by doubters; whether or not this has led to a successful professional career is up in the air, but this mindset of his is most assuredly not. This is just who Baker Mayfield is.
Jumping forward in time to this past NFL offseason, we find Mayfield in a similar crossroads with a team who doesn’t want him, albeit with a much darker twist. The Cleveland Browns, despite having picked up Mayfield’s fifth-year option before the start of the season, are unimpressed with their QB’s capabilities and instead choose to chase another option to try to capitalize on their young and talented core outside of the signal-caller.
The option Cleveland went with, ultimately, was Deshaun Watson.
For those unaware, Watson has been accused by over 24 women of sexual misconduct. Though the degrees of the allegations vary among the accusers, each of these women -- who had never met each other prior to their accusations -- tell similar stories and show a clear pattern of sexual harassment on the part of Watson.
Photo by: Carmen Mandato/Getty Images
The details of the entire situation are grim, but perhaps even more grim are the stunning lack of consequences Watson seems to be facing, as well as the Browns’ eagerness to sweep the whole issue under the rug and lazily rehabilitate Watson’s image.
Cleveland, after trading an absolute war chest containing three first-round picks, a third-round pick, and two fourth-round picks to Houston in exchange for Watson and a future sixth-rounder, signed Watson to a fully-guaranteed, $230 million contract over five years. This is the most money and the most guaranteed money of any player’s contract in the history of the NFL.
More dubious still is the pay structure of the contract -- the Browns gave Watson the absolute minimum amount of money possible for the first year of his deal, around $1 million, instead pumping most of the money into the other four years. Seemingly, this would indicate that Cleveland and Watson were anticipating a suspension from the NFL of some sort as a result of his many sexual assault allegations and settlements, and were thus scheming to ensure Watson loses as little money as possible from such a suspension.
After judge Sue Lewis Robinson shockingly suspended Watson for only six games, the NFL appealed this decision and eventually settled with the NFLPA on an 11-game suspension, effective starting Week 1 of this upcoming season, and a $5 million fine.
For those keeping track at home, as a result of Watson’s alleged behavior, insistence on his innocence and on calling his accusers liars, and lukewarm and contradictory half-apologies from both Watson and the Browns organization, Cleveland’s new QB1 nets approximately $224 million before taxes, moves to a team in a much better position to win games, and will get to return this season in a matchup with his old team, the Houston Texans (think it’s a coincidence the league settled on this precise number of games for his suspension?).
Upon witnessing all of this firsthand, Mayfield understandably requested a trade out of Cleveland. And after months in quarterback purgatory, Baker’s wishes were finally answered as he was traded to the Carolina Panthers for just a conditional fifth-round pick.
Maybe the worst part of the entire fiasco? Two days before Watson was dealt to Cleveland, a report came out alleging the Browns organization said they wanted “an adult” at quarterback.
The option Cleveland went with, ultimately, was Deshaun Watson.
For those unaware, Watson has been accused by over 24 women of sexual misconduct. Though the degrees of the allegations vary among the accusers, each of these women -- who had never met each other prior to their accusations -- tell similar stories and show a clear pattern of sexual harassment on the part of Watson.
Photo by: Carmen Mandato/Getty Images
The details of the entire situation are grim, but perhaps even more grim are the stunning lack of consequences Watson seems to be facing, as well as the Browns’ eagerness to sweep the whole issue under the rug and lazily rehabilitate Watson’s image.
Cleveland, after trading an absolute war chest containing three first-round picks, a third-round pick, and two fourth-round picks to Houston in exchange for Watson and a future sixth-rounder, signed Watson to a fully-guaranteed, $230 million contract over five years. This is the most money and the most guaranteed money of any player’s contract in the history of the NFL.
More dubious still is the pay structure of the contract -- the Browns gave Watson the absolute minimum amount of money possible for the first year of his deal, around $1 million, instead pumping most of the money into the other four years. Seemingly, this would indicate that Cleveland and Watson were anticipating a suspension from the NFL of some sort as a result of his many sexual assault allegations and settlements, and were thus scheming to ensure Watson loses as little money as possible from such a suspension.
After judge Sue Lewis Robinson shockingly suspended Watson for only six games, the NFL appealed this decision and eventually settled with the NFLPA on an 11-game suspension, effective starting Week 1 of this upcoming season, and a $5 million fine.
For those keeping track at home, as a result of Watson’s alleged behavior, insistence on his innocence and on calling his accusers liars, and lukewarm and contradictory half-apologies from both Watson and the Browns organization, Cleveland’s new QB1 nets approximately $224 million before taxes, moves to a team in a much better position to win games, and will get to return this season in a matchup with his old team, the Houston Texans (think it’s a coincidence the league settled on this precise number of games for his suspension?).
Upon witnessing all of this firsthand, Mayfield understandably requested a trade out of Cleveland. And after months in quarterback purgatory, Baker’s wishes were finally answered as he was traded to the Carolina Panthers for just a conditional fifth-round pick.
Maybe the worst part of the entire fiasco? Two days before Watson was dealt to Cleveland, a report came out alleging the Browns organization said they wanted “an adult” at quarterback.
Photo by: Jim Dedmon/USA Today Sports
Mayfield has every right to be upset with the Cleveland Browns, and after outdueling Sam Darnold in training camp, he’s in line to start Week 1 against his former employer. Whether or not Mayfield resuscitates his NFL career over the course of this season is an open question. But there will be no question about his drive and his motivation to succeed and to make the Browns look as foolish as possible.
Baker Mayfield has always been a player fueled by sheer spite, and there’s not a single person in the league right now who has a better reason to be spiteful than him. His entire career, maybe even his entire life, has led to this exact moment in time -- a perfect storm of events creating the possibility of sweet karmic vengeance. And I, for one, will be rooting to see him make it happen. ■
What an amazing article. Keep up the great work!
ReplyDeleteA well researched and put together article. Great info worth reading!
ReplyDeleteFantastic article. Awesome deep dive into Mayfield’s journey all the way from high school. Makes for a very compelling argument!
ReplyDelete