Matt Starkey/Cleveland Browns

Since his left-shoulder injury forced an end to Baker Mayfield’s string of 53 consecutive games behind center, To Play or Not to Play, that is THE Question has been on an endless reel. He had never missed a game since taking over for Tyrod Taylor, his placeholder during his first season. In fact, he had not missed a game in eight years, which includes Mayfield’s college career at Texas Tech and Oklahoma universities.

Fifty-three games is an eternity in the Not for Long League, aka the National Football League. A concussion sent Taylor to the sideline in the third game of 2018, and that was that. This happens every game of every fall and sometimes in practice. It may be the greatest game on turf but an observer might think they were playing on a minefield.

The fact that Mayfield chomped at the bit on the sidelines as QB1a Case Keenum engineered a Thursday Night Football victory over Denver has had not only Mayfield but also Browns devotees fitful about Sunday’s Pittsburgh visit for the first AFC North game. The equivocation regarding the State of the Franchise (Mayfield) has been unhelpful.

The braver members of the local sporting media who write columns or do analysis have offered opinions that usually include so much hedging that a person might mistake them for a member of the grounds crew, the one who trims the bushes. Dr. Terry Pluto has proved the worst of the bunch. He has pointed out a hundred times if he has pointed out once that he is not a medical doctor and cannot prescribe treatment for a left shoulder.

Mayfield tore his labrum trying to make a tackle after being intercepted in the second game of the season. As time passed and more (truthful) information emerged, the severity of the injury grew from partial to complete tear. This led to speculation about the need for surgery, which escalated from if surgery would be required to when.

As Medical Information for Dummies became a part of each story—where is the labrum, what is its function—Cleveland.com’s Mary Kay Cabot became the best gatherer and sharer of what she learned from real doctors who outstripped the timid Dr. Pluto. (Google and other search engines can provide much of what a person needs to know.)

It can be useful to receive information from the horse’s (patient’s) mouth. This has been especially true since in the Browns’ loss to the Arizona Cardinals, defensive end J.J. Watt strip-sacked Mayfield and slammed him into turf as if he were a professional “rassler,” causing the bone in the left shoulder to pop out of its protective labrum-lined pocket. Subsequently, Mayfield went national to disclose to Fox Sports’ Jay Glazer that he had suffered a fracture—it looks like a small dent—in his humerus (not funny) bone.

On Wednesday, the same day that Mayfield offered a positive update regarding his condition and chance of playing against the Steelers, disclaimer included, of course—“I’m not exactly a doctor”—a national report from NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport revealed that Watt, the shoulder buster, likely would be undergoing shoulder surgery.

Meanwhile, Mayfield’s inflammation had subsided and his range of motion and strength had improved. Talk about a twist of irony. Watt had appeared and acted concerned for Mayfield and that emotion could have been an honest one, not just for the cameras. Watt has shown he cares about others, his efforts for his former football home of Houston when it was hit by a hurricane/flooding offers a real and believable example.

The larger impact of Mayfield’s injury has received too little attention. Review each season’s successful teams and you will find that, by and large, they are those that have incurred the fewest injuries and/or injuries that have not rent asunder key players. Sometimes the next-man-up mantra that coaches embrace so willingly pans out—at least short term. When Browns played Denver without RB1 Nick Chubb (and then Kareem Hunt went down and has been placed on the Injured Reserve list and will miss at least three games), RB3 D’Ernest Johnson ran into the breach for a career high of 146 yards and, with quarterback Keenum, plugged the dike and produced a victory.

Perhaps because Coach Kevin Stefanski, in only his second season of running a team—2020 Coach of the Year Award notwithstanding—buys the pap that he and other coaches spout. He shouldn’t. He was a forever assistant at Minnesota, where he learned his craft—including coach-speak—from some of the best and should know better. Yet there Stefanski was this week telling Northeast Ohio’s intelligent football community that “the quarterback position is really no different than any of these other positions” which have required players to fill in for their betters, including tackles.

Please, Kevin, such BS diminishes the credibility that you have earned. Don’t spew it and don’t expect us to wallow in it. Last year, the worst injury/illness situation that the Browns may have encountered was Stefanski’s absence, along with two other coaches, from the AFC Wild Card game with Pittsburgh due to positive COVID-19 test. Consigned to the basement of his home, he could not be in contact with his team during the game. And yet, the Browns won their first playoff game since Shep/Stef was a pup.

Mayfield has made it clear that he wants to play Sunday against the Steelers and to finish the season before considering/having the surgery needed to repair his labrum. If a quarterback’s will to win were factored into the weekly QB ratings, Mayfield would be the fantasy pick each week. As it is the Browns should listen to what Mayfield wants as his condition stabilizes. They fail to do so at their own extreme risk.

If I were team major domo, I would do the crazy/unorthodox if it were determined that Mayfield required surgery now and would miss the rest of the season that was supposed to be his proving ground for one of those long-term, franchise QB extensions. Knowing the risk involved—would analytics say go for it or punt?—I would negotiate an extension of $30 million to $40 million, not quite top dollar but a true QB1 statement.

This would say to Mayfield: Have the surgery. Rehab like a demon. Come back and take us to a Super Bowl. I think he would return “faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, able to leap tall buildings in a single bound.” Superman in Superman’s city of birth. It would become NFL legend. When trusted, this man delivers.

NOTE: All of the enumerated Mayfield Memorandums can be found at: https://stevelovewriter.com/blog/