Former Cleveland Browns wide receiver Braylon Edwards believes the team should part ways with Baker Mayfield in the offseason.
Edwards shared his reasoning during Friday’s edition of CBS Sports Radio’s “The Zach Gelb Show.”
“Mayfield is short, slow, and hasn’t looked himself in the mirror,” Edwards said. “Mayfield is an individual (who) needs everything to be perfect to have success.
“There’s nothing wrong with that when you understand that’s what you are… (He’s) not a guy who’s going to win you games. Baker is going to win you games if everything is right.”
Edwards said the Browns played better during Case Keenum’s Week 7 start, a 17-14 win over the Denver Broncos.
Keenum finished the Oct. 21 game completing 21-of-33 passes for 199 yards and one touchdown.
Keenum is set to start the Browns’ regular-season finale on Sunday against the Cincinnati Bengals.
Later this month, Mayfield is expected to undergo surgery to repair a torn labrum in his left shoulder.
“(I) saw the same thing, and for much cheaper,” Edwards said. “If I’m them, I’d move on from (Mayfield).”
Mayfield, 26, is due to make about $18.86 million in the 2022 season, which is the final year of his rookie contract.
Keenum, 33, is due to make $6.5 million in 2022, which is the final year of his deal with the Browns.
Edwards also said what he would do if he were Mayfield and his agent.
“I’d look yourself in the mirror and tell yourself who you are, which is tough to do,” Edwards said. “He loses them a lot of games, that’s not what good-to-great quarterbacks do. They don’t lose their teams a lot of games. He does.”
Edwards said he didn’t think the Browns needed to replace Mayfield in the 2022 season with Keenum still under contract.
“(Mayfield is) only (about) $19 million, so try to get him off your roster,” Edwards said. “Somebody is going to take that deal. There’s a lot of teams out there that would take a Baker Mayfield at $19 million a year.”
Edwards also suggested the possibility of reuniting Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski with quarterback Kirk Cousins and Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer.
Cousins, 33, is due to make $35 million in 2022, which is the final year of his deal with the Vikings.
However, the Vikings (7-9) are expected to fire Zimmer after the 2021 season.
Stefanski held a variety of offensive assistant positions from 2006-2019 with the Vikings before becoming the Browns’ head coach ahead of the 2020 season.
“(Cousins has) reached his ceiling in Minnesota,” Edwards said. “Bring him into Cleveland.”
Edwards also pointed to the Browns’ young talent defensively and what he called the NFL’s best running back duo in Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt.
“Kirk’s a guy that knows, ‘don’t do too much,’” Edwards said. “Like, ‘hey if y’all don’t want me to throw the ball 40 times a game, I welcome that. I welcome throwing the ball 25 (times) and handing the ball off to Kareem (Hunt) and Chubb.”
From 2005-2009, Edwards played for the Browns.
It included a Pro Bowl and second-team All-Pro selection in 2007.
The Browns selected Edwards out of Michigan with the third overall pick of the 2005 NFL Draft.
Edwards also played for the New York Jets (2009-2010), the San Francisco 49ers (2011), the Seattle Seahawks (2012) and the New York Jets (2012).
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