Chris Mortensen: Browns Want 'An Adult' at Quarterback

The Cleveland Browns and Baker Mayfield are breaking up. It seems the Browns will be moving on from Mayfield regardless of whether or not the they can swing a trade for Houston Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson. On Wednesday, ESPN's Chris Mortensen revealed a lot in a short segment during an NFL free agency special.

Mortensen said the Browns and Mayfield are "breaking up" and that the franchise wants to go in a different direction. Perhaps most damning for Baker, Mortensen claimed the team wants "an adult" at the position.

The segment is below.

Ouch.

Mayfield has had an up and down tenure in Cleveland. In 2020, it looked like he'd figured things out. He completed 62.8 percent of his passes for 3,563 yards, with 26 touchdowns and eight interceptions. He posted career-highs in passer rating (95.9) and QBR (65.5), and led the Browns to the postseason, and even notched a playoff win. But it all fell apart in 2021. He completed 60.5 percent of his passes for 3,010 yards with 17 touchdowns and 13 interceptions. His passer rating dropped to 83.1 and his QBR of 35.1 ranked 27th among qualifying quarterbacks. It was a dismal year.

It's probably the right time for both parties to go their separate ways.