Former Browns HC Freddie Kitchens Says 'Things are Looking Up' for Baker Mayfield

It will be an "open competition" for the starting quarterback job when the Panthers begin training camp in less than two weeks in Spartanburg between Sam Darnold and the newly acquired Baker Mayfield. 

GM Scott Fitterer and head coach Matt Rhule will continue to say that the job is up for grabs but ultimately, it's Mayfield's to lose. Unlike Darnold, he's actually played winning football in the NFL and knows what it takes to be successful in this league. Although might seem a bit harsh, it's just the truth. Darnold has the talent to be a decent quarterback in the league but he has yet to put it all together and as he enters year five, he's running out of chances.

For whatever reason, there wasn't much of a market for Mayfield was this offseason despite being a decent starting quarterback on what had been an inferior franchise. After all of the quarterbacks the Browns have been through over the past two decades, Mayfield was the one that helped them to not only a playoff appearance but a road playoff win in Pittsburgh and nearly a road playoff win over the Chiefs.

At this point in his career, it's hard to see Mayfield ever becoming a top 10 quarterback in the league. Fortunately for the Panthers, they don't need him to be one of the game's elite signal-callers. He just needs to be what he was before the shoulder injury occurred in 2021. If they get that version of Baker Mayfield, they'll be more than fine. 

In a recent interview on Sirius XM NFL radio, Mayfield's former head coach, Freddie Kitchens, voiced support for him and believes he is going to do some good things with the Carolina Panthers.

"In the game of football, when you start talking about players, you're either dealing with projections or quantitative things that they've already done. And when you look at Baker like you mentioned, he finished second in the league in Rookie of the Year votes. He set a rookie touchdown record is his rookie year. The second year he had two 1,000-yard receivers and a 1,500-yard rusher. His third year his receivers were back healthy and he had a better year, a much better year statistically for him and record-wise. And then the fourth year like you mentioned, you know, the labrum and I know from experience the off-shoulder is sometimes more important than the on-shoulder as far as controlling accuracy of the ball and things like that. I think that definitely impacted him. I'm excited for him to get to Carolina and see what he can do. I think things are looking up for Baker."