Baker Mayfield's Strengths Becoming Weaknesses is Terrifying and Freddie Kitchens is to Blame

Coming out of college, Baker Mayfield was hailed by some as the quarterback with the highest upside in the 2018 NFL Draft. Scouts from the Cleveland Browns were so convinced of his talent that the team drafted him with the first overall pick.

And in his rookie year, he was downright impressive. He threw for 3,725 yards and 27 touchdowns, and though he made some rookie mistakes, his talent seemed undeniable. Especially his talent for improvisation, which has long been Mayfield's calling card.

Then Freddie Kitchens happened. The Browns named him as the head coach for the 2019 season, and he has amazingly managed to turn things like Mayfield's accuracy and decision-making into weaknesses.

The proof is in the statistical pudding for those who doubt that Kitchens is the root of the problem. Mayfield completed 70.5% of his passes in his senior year of college, and he threw at a respectable 63.8% clip in his rookie year with a rather mediocre receiving corps.

But he's gone on a nose-dive under Kitchens in 2019. Entering Week 16, he had completed just 60.1% of his passes, and his interception rate had ballooned from 2.9% last year to 3.6% this year. When given time to act, Mayfield gets worse. How can that be? How has his supreme confidence somehow been so limited and damaged?

All of the things that made Mayfield such an exciting quarterback with a bright future are now working against him.

With Odell Beckham Jr. and Jarvis Landry as his top targets this year, it seemed like a forgone conclusion that he'd have an explosive sophomore campaign. The fact that he has regressed so wildly is damning evidence that Kitchens is actively holding him back, somehow coercing him into safer throws and confusingly conservative behavior.

Hopefully the Browns recognize this and show him the door in the offseason. If they don't, they could end up completely wasting Mayfield's potential.