Baker Mayfield

After bouncing from Cleveland to Carolina to Los Angeles, Mayfield found a home in Tampa Bay last season, resurrecting his career with personal bests for passing yards (4,044, 9th in NFL) and TD passes (28, 7th) and leading the Buccaneers to the playoffs. While his accuracy was middle of the road (72.6 on-target percentage, 19th), Mayfield did a good job pushing the ball downfield. His average target depth was 8.5 yards, fifth in the league, as 12.0 percent of his attempts went beyond 20 yards, also fifth. His eight TD passes on deep attempts tied for second most. Offensive coordinator Dave Canales earned much of the credit for Baker's turnaround, but he's now Carolina's head coach, replaced by former Kentucky OC Liam Coen, who is expected to install a Sean McVay-derived offense (he coached under McVay with the Rams) only with perhaps more pre-snap motion. That would seem to work in favor of Mayfield, who signed a three-year deal with $50 million guaranteed in March. Wide receiver Mike Evans is also back on a new contract, and WR Chris Godwin, TE Cade Otton and RB Rachaad White (64 catches) return too. Mayfield doesn't run much, but a strong arm with 550-plus attempts was enough to make him fantasy's QB10 last year. Even if he doesn't get there this year, he's a solid option for two-QB leagues.

Mayfield's 2022 season highlight came three days after the Panthers waived him in December when he rallied the Rams to victory in a Thursday night game. He later completed 24 of 28 passes in a blowout win of Denver in Week 16, but he struggled the final two weeks in an injury-riddled offense and ultimately had little to show for another season that went nowhere. He finished bottom five of 33 qualified QBs in a slew of categories, including completion percentage (60.0), YPA (6.0), TD rate (3.0 percent) and on-target percentage (67.5). The 28-year-old signed with Tampa Bay in March to compete with Kyle Trask for the starting job. Coach Todd Bowles named Mayfield as the Week 1 starter after the second week of preseason action, opting for the known and mediocre over an inexperienced second-round pick. The Bucs have a decent (though aging) group of pass catchers to target and hired first-time offensive coordinator Dave Canales, but Mayfield's track record suggests he'll likely hold the group back.

Four seasons after Cleveland made Mayfield the No. 1 pick in the draft, both the team and the quarterback wanted a divorce. The Browns acquired Deshaun Watson this offseason, but dumping Mayfield wasn't easy thanks to his $18.86 million guaranteed salary. The Panthers eventually coughed up a fifth-round pick for Mayfield, with the pick potentially elevating to a fourth-rounder based on playing time. With his new team, he'll start over 2018 first-round selection Sam Darnold. Since a promising rookie season, Mayfield hasn't improved much, including a 14-start campaign last year in which he had the fourth highest INT rate at 3.1 percent while placing 27th in on-target rate (70.8 percent). He played through a season-long torn labrum in his non-throwing shoulder, which required surgery in January, but that doesn't fully explain his poor decisions and erratic play. With Carolina, Mayfield will have WRs DJ Moore and Robbie Anderson and do-it-all RB Christian McCaffrey at his disposal.

After a disappointing sophomore season, Mayfield took a step forward last year, leading the Browns to their first playoff victory in 26 years. His bad-pass percentage fell from 23.6 percent in 2019 to 19.5 percent, and he drastically cut his interceptions. After tossing 21 the previous season, he threw eight last year, with his INT rate dropping from 3.4 percent (31st) to 1.6 (9th). Kevin Stefanski's run-first offense cost Mayfield 48 attempts from the previous year, but he still went downfield at a healthy rate — 11.9 percent of his attempts were 20-pus yards (12th) — and was effective throwing deep. His 44.8 completion percentage on attempts of at least 20 yards ranked fourth in the league (min. 30 attempts), and his average target depth was 10th (8.7 yards). Mayfield really got rolling late in the season. Over the final eight games, including playoffs, he threw 15 TDs and two interceptions, averaging 272.5 yards per game and 7.5 YPA. Mayfield did that without Odell Beckham, who missed the second half of the year with a knee injury. Beckham is expected to be ready for this season, reuniting with Jarvis Landry and Rashard Higgins, who showed his upside in Beckham's absence, averaging 17.0 yards per catch. The Browns also drafted Anthony Schwartz, the fastest receiver in this year's class at a blazing 4.25 in the 40. While Mayfield is mobile enough to avoid sacks, he doesn't add much rushing production to his fantasy profile, but improving efficiency gives him value in two-quarterback leagues.

Coming off an outstanding rookie year, Mayfield looked poised to break out last season. Not only did that not happen, but Mayfield sunk to the bottom of the NFL quarterback pool. He ranked 31st in completion percentage (59.4), 31st in interception percentage (3.8), 31st in passer rating (78.8), 30th in bad-pass percentage (23.6) ... and the list goes on. While he certainly played poorly at times, it wasn't all his fault, as a bad offensive line, injuries to key players and questionable game plans dragged him down. It was enough to get coach Freddie Kitchens fired at season's end. New coach Kevin Stefanski, Mayfield's fourth head coach in three seasons, was the offensive coordinator last year for a Vikings team that ranked third in rushing percentage (49.1) and whose quarterback, Kirk Cousins, attempted only 444 passes. But Stefanski was operating under head coach Mike Zimmer's run-first mandate, and while he plans to bring at least the principles of that offense with him, it's unclear if that means Mayfield is destined to lose 100 or so attempts. In any event, Stefanski's zone blocking/play-action scheme should open throwing lanes for Mayfield and widen the pocket. And new offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt said he plans to alter Mayfield's footwork to be more fluid and less robotic. The team also moved to shore up the offensive line by signing RT Jack Conklin and drafting LT Jedrick Wills 10th overall. And Mayfield again has plenty of weapons. Odell Beckham and Jarvis Landry had offseason surgeries, but are expected to be healthy for Week 1. Free-agent addition Austin Hooper joins David Njoku at TE, and the backfield might be the league's best with Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt. Maybe Year 3 will be Mayfield's breakout season.

The No. 1 pick in last year's draft, Mayfield debuted Week 3 and took over the starting job the following week. His big break came when the Browns fired offensive coordinator Todd Haley entering Week 9, replacing him with running backs coach Freddie Kitchens. In six games under Haley, Mayfield completed 58.3 percent of his passes with 6.6 YPA and eight touchdowns. In eight games under Kitchens, those numbers jumped to 68.4 percent, 8.6 YPA and 19 TDs, sparked by success throwing the deep ball. In Weeks 9-17, on attempts longer than 20 yards, Mayfield posted a 14.7 TD percentage (2nd), 17.8 YPA (3rd) and 108.5 passer rating (6th). For the season, his 9.4-yard average depth of target ranked fifth in the league. The offseason addition of Odell Beckham Jr. could take Mayfield and the Cleveland offense to the next level this year under Kitchens, now the head coach but still the playcaller, with former Buccaneers assistant Todd Monken the new offensive coordinator. Jarvis Landry returns to man the slot, with young wideouts Rashard Higgins and Antonio Callaway showing promise and tight end David Njoku perhaps on the verge of a breakout. Meanwhile, Kareem Hunt will join Nick Chubb in the backfield at midseason after serving an eight-game suspension. In short, Mayfield is set up for big success.

The first overall pick in the draft, Mayfield enters training camp as the backup to Tyrod Taylor. How long that remains the hierarchy is uncertain, despite coach Hue Jackson's proclaimed belief in Taylor. Perhaps Jackson is timid about another rookie starter after last year's debacle with DeShone Kizer, but Jackson has won a single game in two years, so if there's a coach in America who's apt to play the QB who gives him the best shot at winning, it's Jackson. Mayfield was highly accurate in college, has a strong arm and throws an excellent deep ball. At 6-1, 215, he doesn't have ideal height, but his batted-pass stats were excellent in college and, according to scouts, he processes information quickly and has the mobility to escape pressure. The Browns retooled their skill positions this offseason, adding Jarvis Landry and Antonio Callaway to a wideout group that hopes to finally have Josh Gordon for a full season. They also signed Carlos Hyde and drafted Nick Chubb to join Duke Johnson in the backfield. Better still, the offense now belongs to coordinator Todd Haley, who occupied the same role in Pittsburgh the last six years. Jackson will no longer call plays, and that will benefit whoever is under center.