Browns' Stefanski: 'I've been very impressed with how smart Baker is'

New Cleveland Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski likes what he's seen and heard from quarterback Baker Mayfield so far this offseason.

"(We are) texting almost every day, he's doing a nice job in the program," Stefanski said on SiriusXM NFL Radio. "He's spending a lot of time virtually with (offensive coordinator) Alex Van Pelt, and we're just teaching him the system.

"He's a really bright football player. I've been very impressed with how smart Baker is. He knows that he has to improve off of last year, and that message of improvement is the same for every single one of our players. We want to get guys that are eager to take a step forward and Baker completely understands that."

Stefanski is making his head coaching debut in 2020 after spending the last 14 seasons on the Minnesota Vikings' coaching staff. Meanwhile, Van Pelt was named offensive coordinator after two seasons as Cincinnati's quarterbacks coach.

The new head coach believes those changes are putting Mayfield in a good position to overcome all the criticism he received last year.

"You have an opportunity, as we build a new system, an opportunity to do something where he's going to be out there in front," Stefanski added. "I said this earlier, but it's the truth, you get a lot of the credit and then you get a lot of the blame, that's just the nature of the beast. I think he understands that completely, and I think he'll be ready to go."

After tossing 27 touchdowns against 14 interceptions in 14 appearances as a rookie, Mayfield saw his numbers regress as a sophomore, throwing 22 scores against 21 picks in 16 games.

The 2018 first overall pick also completed just 59.4% of his pass attempts in 2019, which ranked 26th in the NFL (minimum 300 attempts).

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