CLEVELAND — Cleveland Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield and his wife, Emily, signed a deal with Progressive Insurance this offseason, and their commercials have been frequent plays during games in the 2019 regular season.
But despite the early-season struggles, the Browns are not worried about Mayfield being preoccupied with celebrity status and endorsements, not especially when he is in the building preparing and practicing for upcoming games.
“I think he does a good job of having balance in all areas,” Browns coach Freddie Kitchens said. “I do not ever worry about that oozing over into football at all. He is focused when he comes into this building. He is a hard worker. To answer your question, no, I do not worry about it.”
Mayfield comes into Sunday’s game against the Seattle Seahawks at FirstEnergy Stadium in Cleveland after a struggle-filled performance in a 31-3 loss to the San Francisco 49ers on Monday Night Football earlier this week.
Mayfield completed only eight of his 22 attempts for 100 yards with two interceptions, the second of which came on a deflection on a pass that hit wide receiver Antonio Callaway both in the hands and the chest before former Browns defensive back K’Waun Williams returned the takeaway to the Cleveland 49-yard line.
Also, Mayfield had two fumbles, one of which the 49ers recovered, and was sacked four times for 42 lost yards, two of which were registered by former Ohio State Buckeyes standout Nick Bosa.
“With any player, especially even younger players, you are going to have ups and downs, even your best players have times,” Browns offensive coordinator Todd Monken said. “Even your best baseball players go 0-4. Even your best basketball players have poor shooting nights.
“You have ups and downs as players. It happens more frequently when you are younger and when you are not playing as well around a player and when you are not doing it as well as you can do it, starting with us. It is never just one group. It is everybody. We are responsible for the product we put on the field and we have to do it better.”
Nearing the midway point of his second NFL season, Mayfield has completed 90 of his 161 pass attempts (55.9 percent) for 1,247 yards and four touchdowns against eight interceptions. Also, Mayfield has been sacked 16 times for 128 lost yards and lost one fumble.
Mayfield’s struggles come on the heels of what was a successful rookie season.
After taking over the first-team offense in the second quarter of a Week 3 win over the New York Jets, Mayfield completed 310 of his 486 attempts (63.8 percent) for 3,725 yards and 27 touchdowns against 14 interceptions.
Although the stat lines look different between his first two seasons, the Browns have seen the same, fiery Mayfield on the practice field, as well as game day.
And they are confident he is not being weighed down by the struggles.
“I think Baker brings that to the field every day, every week,” Kitchens said. “I do not think anything has changed from that nature. I think it is that way every week.”