Matt Rhule Already Covering for Baker Mayfield's Throws

After four seasons, and a few quite contentious ones, the Cleveland Browns finally traded away quarterback Baker Mayfield. Mayfield began training camp with his new Carolina Panthers squad on Tuesday, and an opportunity to wipe the slate clean.

Just hours into day one of live reps, reports suggest Mayfield getting some very clunky results. He underthrew a deep ball that was picked off, and Panthers insider Bill Voth said that timing was off, notably on a pair of deep balls to Brandon Zylstra.

Panthers head coach Matt Rhule spoke with media following the game, already covering for the lackluster performance of his new QB.

Rhule indicated that the timing is "going to take a while" and even pinned some of the blame on the wide receivers, saying they needed to "get up to speed" and collect feedback.

For Browns fans, this feels like a broken record. Mayfield's accuracy, or lack thereof, was arguably his biggest pain point during the days in Cleveland. He never completed more than 64% of his passes, and eclipsed the 10+ interception mark in three of his four seasons.

By comparison, Joe Burrow led the league in pass completion last year with a 70.4% mark. Six points may not seem like a lot, but that's a lot of missed opportunities who averages 481 passing attempts per year.

Browns fans, and perhaps even the coaching staff and front office, may take some solace in their decision to move off Mayfield, especially after these early reports.

Adam Taylor McKillop is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Adam Taylor also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username atmckillop. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in their articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.