CLEVELAND, Ohio — Peyton Manning was happy for Baker Mayfield that he didn’t have to start over for the third time in 2019.

He watched the rookie have to regroup midway through last season when Hue Jackson and Todd Haley were fired, and adjust to Freddie Kitchens’ wide-open, eclectic scheme.

“For a minute there, he could’ve been in his second year and on his third offensive system,’’ Manning told cleveland.com in May at the Wilson football factory in Ada, Ohio while filming an episode of Peyton’s Places for ESPN. “At least he’s on just his second, right? I mean, Alex Smith told me, first pick of the draft, six systems in six years. That’s hard to do.’’

Instead, he believes Mayfield will build on what he accomplished in the second half of last season, when he threw 19 touchdowns and only eight interceptions en route to a 106.2 second-half rating.

“You saw Baker have a chance at the playoffs and gain confidence at the end,’’ said Manning, a two-time Super Bowl champion, Super Bowl MVP and five-time NFL MVP. “He’ll just kind of carry that into the season and I can kind of relate to that.’’

The No. 1 pick by the Colts in 1998, Manning went from 3-13 as a rookie to 13-3 and the AFC East crown in 1999 before losing 19-16 to the Titans in his first playoff game that year.

“I’ve always believed in putting rookie quarterbacks in there so I think it was an invaluable experience he got last year,’’ Manning said. “You can tell he and Kitchens seem to have kind of a connection and so I like for his sake that he’s going to have the same offensive system.’’

Manning believes Mayfield learned far more from playing than sitting behind Tyrod Taylor like he did the first 2 1/2 games of the season before Taylor suffered a concussion in Week 3 against the Jets.

“He learned a lot his rookie season that will apply to this season and I’m a quarterback defender,’’ he said. “Don’t make a guy learn. I had to learn two offenses in 18 years and that was a lot. That was too many. To me, there’s a reason Tom Brady and Drew Brees are playing so well, because they’ve been in the same system for so long.’’

From a skill set standpoint, Manning admires the way Mayfield moves in the pocket and nails it on the run.

“But he also can move to find different places to throw, launch points, they call them and obviously working on the timing with some of his new receivers, that doesn’t come overnight,’’ he said. “But I think his ability to make plays, his ability to create (is his strength),’’ he said. “You saw him do it in college and there’s a certain kind of confidence that he has.’’

He stressed, however, the importance of getting his timing down with Odell Beckham Jr., who spent his first five seasons in New York.

“Obviously he’s a super talent and the more reps and the more timing you can get with new players, whether it’s Jarvis Landry or Odell or any of the other players that they’ve added, you can’t get enough repetitions with a receiver and a quarterback,’’ he said. “The more reps they can get, the better served they’ll be.’’

Manning filmed an episode of Peyton's Places for ESPN at the Wilson Football Factory in Ada, Ohio.

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