CLEVELAND — New Cleveland Browns kicker Austin Seibert is not one to shy away from competition, and that mindset is something he credited to a former University of Oklahoma teammate that is making a name for himself in the NFL.
That teammate is none other than Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield.
“I think I got a lot of that from Baker (Mayfield), just being around him,” Seibert told the media during rookie minicamp last weekend.
“We were together for three years at Oklahoma. Learning how he carries himself on the field, I want to do that, too. I want the teammates to believe in me. I want to earn their respect, and I want to go out there, compete and do my best to win football games.”
Admittedly, Seibert played close attention to the Browns during the 2018 season to see Mayfield develop into an on-field leader and finalist for the AP Rookie of the Year Award.
And Seibert is very much looking forward to finishing off Mayfield’s touchdown drives with successful extra-point tries in 2019.
“I watched a lot of those games because Baker was playing here,” Seibert said. “As soon as he got in that starting role, we would watch him in the locker room and everything like that.”
The Browns already had one kicker on the roster in Greg Joseph heading into the 2019 NFL Draft, but that did not stop them from adding some competition in the special-teams unit with a late-round selection.
Over 54 games in four years with the Sooners, Seibert converted 310 of his 315 extra-point tries (98.4 percent) and 63 of his 79 field goals (79.7 percent) for a career total of 499 points. Additionally, Seibert punted 179 times for 7,457 yards, an average of 41.7 yards-per-punt.
During the 2018 season, the 5-foot-9, 213-pound Seibert converted 87 of his 88 extra-point tries (98.9 percent) and 17 of his 19 field goal attempts (89.5 percent). By percentage, it was Seibert’s most successful season as a collegiate kicker.
Seibert is the all-time leading scorer in both Oklahoma and Big 12 Conference history and ranks first among kickers in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) in career points, passing the old mark set by former Browns kicker Zane Gonzalez while he was at Arizona State (2013-2016). Additionally, Seibert has the most career extra points attempted (315) and made (310) among all kickers in FBS history.
Joseph was signed in the early part of the 2018 season after Gonzalez missed four kicks in a one-score loss at the New Orleans Saints in Week 2.
In 14 games with the Browns last season, Joseph converted 17 of his 20 field goal attempts (85 percent), with all three of his misses coming at distances over 40 yards. Also, Joseph made 25 of his 29 point-after tries (86.2 percent).
The Browns spent a fifth-round pick on Seibert and the Sooners kicker is looking forward to a competition for the Browns’ special-teams spot.
“I love to compete,” Seibert said at rookie minicamp over the weekend. “ I look at kicking as, ‘I’m a football player who kicks.’”
