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After a bit less than five full seasons in the National Football League, it appears that Baker Mayfield’s future in the NFL is that of a backup quarterback, as the former 2018 #1 overall pick is not only on his second team, but his poor play has contributed to his head coach (the Panthers’ Matt Rhule) being fired after just five games. Adding insult to injury, Mayfield is dealing with a high-ankle sprain and his old hometown paper in Cleveland recently ranked him as the worst starting QB in the NFL this season.
Now that it seems as though the ship has sailed on Mayfield’s time as a franchise QB, we can perhaps begin to contextualize just how worthy he was of being selected with the #1 overall pick in the 2018 NFL Draft following a Heisman Trophy-winning season at the University of Oklahoma.
Since the year 1967 — which was the first year that there was a common draft between the NFL and AFL — 26 quarterbacks have been selected with the #1 overall pick in the draft, ranging from Hall of Famers like Peyton Manning to walking-memes like Jameis Winston.
So, with Mayfield’s NFL future seemingly scripted — barring a remarkable career comeback, whether it be with the Panthers or elsewhere — let’s try to figure out where he ranks among signal callers that were taken with the top pick in the NFL draft.
Super Bowl-winning quarterbacks that Baker Mayfield will absolutely never be better than (7)
-Peyton Manning, John Elway, Troy Aikman, Eli Manning, Matthew Stafford, Terry Bradshaw, Jim Plunkett
Quarterbacks that never won a championship who are better than Baker Mayfield (7)
-Drew Bledsoe, Michael Vick, Andrew Luck, Joe Burrow, Carson Palmer, Alex Smith, Cam Newton
To be determined (2)
-Trevor Lawrence, Kyler Murray
About Baker Mayfield’s level (6)
-Jared Goff, Sam Bradford, Vinny Testaverde, Jameis Winston, Steve Bartkowski, Jeff George
Quarterbacks that Baker Mayfield is definitely better than (3)
-Jamarcus Russell, David Carr, Tim Couch
All told, Mayfield will likely never be better than 14 of these names and is definitely better than three of them, leaving him in the middle of the pack with the likes of Jared Goff (who remains a starter in his seventh season in the league, something we doubt we’ll be saying about Mayfield in a few years time) and Jeff George.
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