Baker Mayfield’s QBR helps tell the story of his great 2020 season
Baker Mayfield and the Cleveland Browns had a great 2020 and there are multiple stats and data points that can be used to prove it.
The team’s record, the playoff victory and the building cohesion on offense as the season went on give context to Mayfield’s success. Credit isn’t limited to the quarterback. Head coach Kevin Stefanski, who installed his offense last season, received coach of the year honors for his part while the team’s offensive line was lauded for their improvement under Bill Callahan.
A team’s record is always the product of a team effort and there is plenty of praise to go around for the Browns last season.
There are also data points that help provide context for individual play. Pro Football Focus grades are one data point used to help understand the context of individual play that helps create comparisons as well.
For years, quarterback ratings were another data point often used to evaluate the play of that specific position. In 2011, ESPN created their own quarterback metric (Total QBR) in which they believed they could better ascertain a quarterbacks play. They describe their data point as such:
ESPN’s Total Quarterback Rating (Total QBR), which was released in 2011, has never claimed to be perfect, but unlike other measures of quarterback performance, it incorporates all of a quarterback’s contributions to winning, including how he impacts the game on passes, rushes, turnovers and penalties.
ESPN acknowledges that QBR is not a perfect data point but can be useful. In 2020, Mayfield’s QBR put him in very high level company:
Baker Mayfield had 8 games last season with a QBR over 80. The Browns went 7-1 in those games. Only Aaron Rodgers and Patrick Mahomes had more 80+ QBR performances. Via @ESPNStatsInfo #Browns
— Jake Trotter (@Jake_Trotter) June 22, 2021
Not surprisingly, when Mayfield plays well, the Browns play well. That also, often, means his teammates played good also.
For the season, Mayfield was ranked tenth in the league in QBR at 72.2 just behind Tom Brady (72.5). Not surprisingly, Rodgers (84.4) and Mahomes (82.9) were the two top QBRs in 2020.
Outside of the game against the New York Jets, when he had none of his receivers active due to COVID-19 contact tracing, Mayfield finished the 2020 season with great QBRs. In five of the last six weeks of the season, Mayfield had QBR scores over 82 topping out with games of 98.3 and 90.3.
The lone loss Trotter references in his tweet came against the Baltimore Ravens on Monday Night Football where Mayfield posted an 83.6 QBR.
If trends continue, Mayfield could be looking to challenge Rodgers and Mahomes at the top of the QBR list next season.
