Baker Mayfield should end up winning the 2017 Heisman Trophy what he has done in his redshirt senior season is unbelievable. He has carried this Oklahoma Sooners team on his back en route to a third-straight Big 12 Championship and a second trip to the College Football Playoff in three years.
Mayfield will have exhausted his final year of college football eligibility once the College Football Playoff has come to an end. He will go pro and will likely end up as a first-round pick in the 2018 NFL Draft. Mayfield could be the second or third quarterback taken in the first-round. He might have been a fringe prospect a year ago, but some NFL team will take him on name recognition alone. But how good will Mayfield be as a pro player?
Mayfield has several traits that NFL scouts will love. He has a gun for a right arm, as he has been the best passer we’ve probably ever seen in the Air Raid system. Mayfield is a ruthless competitor. Sometimes that gets the best of him, but his 100 percent dog. He will be willing to burrow through another man’s soul in the NFL.
There are three downsides to Mayfield as an NFL quarterback, which could make him a bust at the end of the day. Mayfield is slightly undersized for an NFL passer. Though he’s thick at 220 pounds, he might be 6-foot-1 when he gets out of bed in the morning with his hair sticking up. Playing in an Air Raid system has not been conducive to starring in the NFL. Mayfield has had some immaturity issues while at Oklahoma. He was arrested in Fayetteville, Arkansas before and had issues with three teams on his schedule this season: Ohio State, Baylor and Kansas.
Mayfield probably needs to sit and wait a year or two before becoming an NFL starter. He has to learn a pro-style offense before he can play on Sundays. Ideally, he’d go to a team like the Los Angeles Chargers or the Pittsburgh Steelers and back up Philip Rivers or Ben Roethlisberger for a year or so before they retire. However, he can’t go to a team like the Cleveland Browns or the New York Giants. The loathsome burden that is Cleveland football could crush his spirit. The New York media might eat him alive. He’s no Eli Manning at a press conference.
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Overall, Mayfield has Drew Brees as an NFL ceiling, Chad Pennington as a mid-tier comparison and Aaron Murray as a floor. The kid loves football and has played his tail off for the Sooners the last three seasons. His arm is strong enough to work in the NFL, but his smaller stature and so-so athleticism could be his undoing, as well as character issues. That being said, he plays ball with a cutthroat approach that could make him a fan favorite and maybe one day a Super Bowl champion.