After seemingly making some progress last year, Baker Mayfield and the Cleveland Browns are back to being out of the playoffs. Mayfield had himself a disappointing season that was cut short due to injury. His interception rate nearly doubled as he passed for nine fewer touchdowns and over 500 fewer yards than last season (albeit, in two fewer games).

Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com offered a possible reason why 2021 didn't go Mayfield's way. She reported that he and Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski have differences to resolve, writing:

Mayfield’s issues with Stefanski bubbled below the surface most of the season, with Mayfield feeling like Stefanski’s playcalling didn’t always put him in position to succeed or play to his strengths, sources told cleveland.com.

Stefanski didn’t necessarily dispute that Tuesday after announcing that Mayfield would sit out the season finale against the Bengals and have his torn labrum repaired as soon as possible.

“As a team, we’ve been very, very inconsistent this season – as an offense certainly,’’ Stefanski said. “All things that we will look at long term here once the season is over and have a chance to look at all of it, but certainly, there are frustrations there.”

Mayfield fired back at Cabot, calling her report clickbait and that Cleveland media outlets stir up drama.

Cabot's report doesn't feature any quotes from Mayfield besides a past one about criticizing the Browns' playcalling. The angle of the story is that Mayfield needs to figure out the differences with his coach, though it does mention some other issues Cleveland dealt with, like the injury to All-Pro tackle Jack Conklin.

While Mayfield may feel he was represented unfairly, the best thing he can do is improve and show he and Stefanski can be a true playoff-caliber duo.