CLEVELAND -- The Cleveland Browns were patient when it came to the development of rookie quarterback Baker Mayfield, but that does not mean they have had a limited playbook since his elevation to the starting lineup in Week 4.
In fact, the Browns are confident in calling any play in the book with Mayfield under center.
“Baker has developed a good grasp of what we are trying to do offensively,” offensive coordinator Freddie Kitchens said in his weekly press conference Thursday. “As we progress, it is a week-to-week game-plan type of thing. He has gotten a good handle on each game plan every week we have played. I expect nothing else this week.”
Mayfield completed 19 of his 26 throws for 258 yards and a franchise single-game rookie-record four touchdowns in a 35-20 win over the Cincinnati Bengals in an AFC North Division clash at Paul Brown Stadium in Cincinnati last Sunday.
Mayfield averaged 9.9 yards per attempt and connected with eight different receivers in the win over the Bengals.
“It is great for Baker,” Kitchens said. “It is great for the guys catching the ball. It is great, more importantly, for the offense’s success because you are not singling out any one person. To do that, you have to have the right people on the field because somebody can’t get upset because they are not getting the ball.
“They have to understand that person got the ball for a reason. The quarterback has to know where his eyes are to get the ball into that person’s hands because he is the one open, and that is where his read takes him. They know that on any given play, they can get the ball, and that enables the offense to be successful.”
Since the Browns decided to clean up the “internal discord” with the unprecedented mid-season coaching change, Mayfield has connected on 65 of his 88 attempts (73.8 percent) for 771 yards and nine touchdowns against just one interception.
Also, the Browns have scored 24 first-quarter points in the three games since the loss in Pittsburgh on October 28. Prior to the coaching change, the Browns scored just 14 first-quarter points under Haley in the first eight games of the regular season.
“We are not holding things back on Baker,” Kitchens said. “We want to continue to improve his development. You can’t baby a quarterback into this thing. You have to throw him out there and see what sticks, and then, it is my job and the rest of the offensive staff’s job to decide what he is comfortable with at the end of the week.
“Right now, we are doing a good job of making sure that he is comfortable with the things that we have in the plan. As far as holding back, there is no holding back. There is not babying him into anything. He is doing a good job. He works hard during the course of the week. He puts time in after hours and before hours.
“He is doing a good job of staying focused on the task at hand inside of one play, inside of one read, inside of one practice and one game. That is how you continue to progress. It is not overwhelming him or anything like that. It is just continuing his progress on a play-by-play basis.”
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