New Carolina Panthers quarterback Baker Mayfield, ironically enough, is nearing about half of a baker’s dozen on head coaches. Over his four-year NFL career, the 2018 first overall pick went through four different shot callers with the Cleveland Browns.
But, hey, at least one of them has something nice to say about him.
Freddie Kitchens, who was head coach No. 3 back in the 2019 campaign, recently hopped on SiriusXM NFL Radio and discussed his former quarterback’s move to Charlotte. And he thinks Mayfield’s track record could be a good indication of where he’s headed.
“In the game of football, when you start talking about players, you’re either dealing with projections or quantitative things they’ve already done,” said Kitchens, who is now a senior analyst at the University of South Carolina. “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 his rookie year. The second year he had two 1,000-yard receivers, 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.”
That career year came in 2020, the season after Kitchens was dismissed from his post in Cleveland. Mayfield threw for 3,563 yards and 26 touchdowns to just eight interceptions while leading the franchise to a 11-5 mark and their first playoff win since 1994.
Kitchens then added that despite a sour 2021, which was topped off by a labral tear in Mayfield’s non-throwing shoulder, the best could be yet to come for the 27-year-old passer.
“And then the fourth year, like you mentioned, the labrum,” he said. “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 and I’m excited for him to get to Carolina and see what he can do. I think things are looking up for Baker.”
And as things potentially look up, we can look back—at the short-lived relationship between Baker and Kitchens and all the missed opportunities for painfully fun cooking puns. *Sigh*
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