CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield thanked fans for all the well-wishes as he heads into torn labrum surgery today, and said he’d keep them posted during his journey back to the field.
“Appreciate all the prayers and good luck wishes on the surgery [Wednesday],’’ Mayfield posted on his Instagram story. “Excited to get it done and start the road to recovery [Wednesday]. I’ll keep y’all updated. Thankful to have an amazing support group to help through this process.”
Mayfield’s shoulder specialist, Dr. Orr Limpisvasti of The Cedars-Sinai Kerlan-Jobe Institute in Los Angeles and the Anaheim Ducks’ team physician, will perform the surgery today, and Mayfield expects to be throwing again by the end of April.
He suffered the fully torn labrum in his left shoulder trying to make a tackle on an interception in Week 2 against the Texans, and wore a harness the rest of the season. The shoulder popped out a second time during that game, and again in Week 6 against the Cardinals when he was strip-sacked by three-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year J.J. Watt. On the Watt sack, the shoulder dislocated again, and Mayfield suffered a fractured humerus bone in the shoulder.
The fracture, which kept him out of the Browns’ 17-14 victory over the Broncos a week later, was non-displaced and healed on its own. But Mayfield has needed the torn labrum repaired from the start, and any other damaged he suffered in the shoulder.
Mayfield will need 4-6 months to fully recover from his surgery
Sacked nine times in the Browns’ 26-14 loss to the Steelers on Jan. 3, Mayfield has alluded to some fraying in the shoulder, so Limpisvasti will need to assess any possible further damage during the procedure and proceed accordingly. After the Steelers game, Mayfield, who sat out the season-ending victory over the Bengals, acknowledged that he was that he was in pain and would likely shut it down.
“It’s time for me to start looking at what’s in the best interest for me and my health,’’ he said via Zoom that night. “I’ve continued to lay it out on the line and I haven’t been healthy and tried to fight for our guys. Right now I’m pretty damn beat up, to be honest with you. There’s no way around it. I gave it everything I had tonight.’’
The Browns consistently maintained throughout the season that Mayfield was healthy enough to play and win games for them, but offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt ultimately stated heading into the Steelers game that Mayfield had been “hamstrung” by the harness throughout the season.
“It definitely shows,’’ Van Pelt said via Zoom conference. “It’s definitely handcuffed him a little bit with his ability to get that left side out of the way. There’s a couple things that are unique to his throwing style that he does and that he’s successful doing it. Those are technique things; we can work on those.’’
He offered hope that Mayfield, who tumbled to 27th in the NFL with a 83.1 rating, would rebound in 2022. His rating was down 12 spots and and 12.8 points from his 15th-ranked 95.9 mark in 2020.
“Hopefully next year without the harness you’ll see Baker back to normal with his normal throwing mechanics,’’ Van Pelt said. “But it’s definitely something that’s hindered him, he’s fought through. Got a lot of respect for the fact that he’s battled through that, we know he’s injured. That’s where I’ll leave that. But there are some things you can do to help him there. We’ve tried those as well.’’
After the disappointing 8-9 season — in which Mayfield went 6-8 to fall to 29-30 overall — Browns GM Andrew Berry stated that “we fully expect Baker to be our starter and bounce back.”
He also said he had no regrets about the Browns not shutting him down sooner.
If Mayfield has the routine torn labrum surgery and nothing more, he should be fully recovered within 4-6 months, including time to strengthen the muscles in the shoulder. For him, it might be a little quicker considering it’s his non-throwing shoulder. That should put him back on the field in time for the offseason program and Organized Team Activities in May, at least on a limited basis.
What he won’t have early this offseason is the opportunity for some of those chemistry-building sessions with his skill players, but there should be plenty of time for that once he’s fully recovered. By then, he’ll probably also have some new receivers to host in his hometown of Austin, Texas, for the next Camp Mayfield.
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