Panthers QB Baker Mayfield altered throwing motion after offseason shoulder surgery

This past January, multiple Cleveland Browns players praised the toughness of quarterback Baker Mayfield after he spent the majority of the 2021 NFL season playing through a serious injury to his non-throwing shoulder. Mayfield underwent surgery later that same month but found himself surplus to requirements in Cleveland after his then-employer acquired star signal-caller Deshaun Watson in March. 

After months of waiting, Mayfield found a new football home last week when Cleveland agreed to trade him to the Carolina Panthers. As noted by Scott Patsko of Cleveland.com (h/t Pro Football Talk), the 27-year-old confirmed during Tuesday's introductory press event that he altered what he said was previously an "extremely violent" throwing motion following the January procedure. 

"I haven’t thrown the ball this well in a long while," Mayfield explained during his comments. "My motion is a little different." 

Per ESPN stats, Mayfield finished his final campaign with the Browns 27th among eligible quarterbacks with an 83.1 passer rating and a 35.1 total QBR. He was 24th overall with 3,010 passing yards and 22nd with 17 touchdowns through the air. 

It would be easy for the 2018 first overall draft pick to blame those lackluster numbers on the shoulder injury, but he won't be dealing with any such setback when he takes the field to compete with fellow veteran Sam Darnold for the Carolina starting job later this summer.