BEREA, Ohio -- Rookie quarterback Baker Mayfield did not have to wait long to take over the reins of the Cleveland Browns’ offense, as after leading the team to a 21-17 come-from-behind victory over the New York Jets last Thursday, he was elevated to the first-team offense.
Mayfield will make his first regular-season NFL start when the Browns take on the Oakland Raiders at Oakland Alameda Coliseum on Sunday.
“It’s an honor,” Mayfield said after the announcement became public. “That’s what I wanted to be, though. I wanted to be the starting quarterback. I wanted to play. It’s just human nature. I’m happy, but it’s just the beginning.”
PHOTOS | Cleveland Browns name Baker Mayfield starting quarterback
Prior to Mayfield entering last Thursday’s game against the Jets, the Browns’ offense sputtered through the first half, as Tyrod Taylor struggled to find any kind of a rhythm and completed just four of his 14 attempts for 19 yards before a concussion brought his night to a premature end.
With Taylor suffering the concussion in the first half, Mayfield entered the game, completed 17 of his 23 attempts for 201 yards and led the Browns to 21 of the final 24 points scored, all of which combined to give Cleveland the comeback victory.
Mayfield engineered four scoring drives in the win over the Jets.
“Absolutely, that’s how I want it,” Mayfield said of earning the starting job. “You want to have to work for it. You’ve got to earn it and you’ve got to have that mentality. You want to work for everything you do to have success. That’s why success is so much more fun when you have to work for it.”
Mayfield and the Browns started their work week with Monday’s practice in Berea, and he felt the first on-field drills went well.
“We had a good first day of practice,” Mayfield said. “It’s about building blocks. Like I said about blocking out the outside noise, the distractions, that’s one thing. We’ve got the ‘next man up’ mentality, and now, we’ve just got to roll with it.
“It’s nice to get reps. To slowly build that timing and chemistry, to be able to do that, you start to get into a rhythm, and so, I’m happy with how I played without the reps. Right now, I have very, very high expectations for myself. Having a full week of practice and being able to get the reps, we should be in tune by Sunday and be ready to go.”
Chosen with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2018 NFL Draft after a Heisman Trophy-winning campaign at the University of Oklahoma last season, Mayfield is well aware of the Browns’ history of starting quarterbacks since their return to the league in 1999.
In fact, during his press conference at the 2018 NFL Scouting Combine, Mayfield said if any quarterback could turn around the Browns, it would be him. However, heading into his first NFL start, Mayfield is not worried about being the 30th quarterback to make a start in the last 20 years.
“It’s 2018,” Mayfield said. “Don’t really care.”
Stream Live with fuboTV -Try Free Trial
