Baker Mayfield’s time in Cleveland finally came to an end on Wednesday, when he was traded to the Carolina Panthers in exchange for a conditional fifth-round pick. The No. 1 overall pick in the 2018 NFL Draft, Mayfield’s stay in Cleveland amounted to just four years and 62 games.
Mayfield joins the list of former first-round quarterbacks who were selected by the Browns since they returned to NFL in 1999. While his career in Cleveland obviously left something to be desired, Mayfield undoubtedly enjoyed more success with the Browns than the four previous first-round quarterbacks who proceeded him. Now that his time with Cleveland is over, let’s rank where Mayfield’s Browns career ranks with the team’s other first-round picks at the position over the past two-plus decades.
1. Baker Mayfield (2018-21)
No surprise here. Mayfield tallied a 6-7 start as a rookie while quarterbacking a team that went a combined 1-31 the previous two seasons. His 27 touchdown passes that year was the rookie record until it was surpassed by Justin Herbert in 2020.
Mayfield and the Browns underperformed in 2019, but they more than made up for it in 2020. Despite Odell Beckham missing most of the year with an injury, Mayfield realized the potential that was evident during his rookie campaign. Along with throwing for the second-most yards in Browns history for a single season (only Bernie Kosar’s 1986 season was more prolific), Mayfield threw more than three times as many touchdowns (26) than interceptions (8) during the regular season while leading the Browns to 11 wins, the most since the 1994 season. Mayfield then threw three touchdowns passes in Cleveland’s wild card win over Pittsburgh, the franchise’s first playoff win in over a quarter century.
Like 2019, the 2021 season was a trying one for Mayfield and his teammates. But despite dealing with multiple injuries, Mayfield made 14 starts (winning six of them) while throwing for over 3,000 yards with more touchdowns (17) than picks (13).
2. Tim Couch (1999-03)
The No. 1 pick in the ’99 Draft, Couch had the unenviable task of leading an expansion franchise. Making the task harder was the fact that Couch and the Browns shared a division with two teams — Baltimore and Pittsburgh — that featured up-and-coming defenses that would dominate the league well into the next decade.
The Browns won just five games those first two years, with Couch…
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