It must be June because a strange debate has blazed to the forefront of conversation: Joe Burrow vs. Baker Mayfield.
Thanks to some fantasy football projections, the debate suggests the rookie Burrow for the Bengals could have a better season than Mayfield with the Cleveland Browns.
Is it outlandish? Maybe. Admittedly, the fact Mayfield even lands close to a rookie quarterback in projections isn’t a great sign for how things have gone in Cleveland as of late. Mayfield regressed last season, completing just 59.4 percent of his passes while dipping to 22 touchdowns and upticking in interceptions with 21.
Still, Mayfield’s going into Year 3 and he’s got a good supporting cast. The Browns added two blue chip players to the offensive line, have an elite running back and some quality receivers.
Burrow is merely a rookie entering the league during an odd offseason and there are questions about the line in front of him and whether his top target can stay healthy.
That’s painting with a pretty simplistic brush. There is an angle where Burrow has to take to the air a ton and lets his receivers do the heavy lifting while Mayfield can cozily sit back with a Nick Chubb-led running game, helping Burrow to come out ahead statistically in this debate.
Either way, this is more the tale of two rebuilding teams hoping they’re finally on the right track under center. Provided their teams are winning, the quarterbacks themselves probably don’t care who ends up with better stats.
