Less than a week since rookie Baker Mayfield led the Browns to their first NFL win since 2016, coach Hue Jackson is making him the team’s starting quarterback.
Mayfield replaced Tyrod Taylor last Thursday and displayed an impeccable performance that helped Cleveland end a winless run that had lasted for 635 days.
“He’s the starting quarterback of this football team,” coach Jackson said of Mayfield. “We know it’s a long season, all kind of things can happen. Baker Mayfield is the starting quarterback of this team.”
The rookie responded to the news by expressing his joy at getting the opportunity by earning it the hard way.
“You want to have to work for it. You’ve got to earn it,” Mayfield said. “Success is so much more fun when you have to work for it.”
Explaining why he is replacing Taylor with Mayfield, Jackson said the rookie had “checked off every box for me.”
“There was nothing that I saw that he wasn’t ready to hand. He checked off every box, Jackson said.” “This is sooner than when I thought it would happen because I thought we would play much better earlier on offense and we didn’t.”
In last week’s win, Mayfield completed 17 of 23 passes, helping a team trailing by 14 points to win the game 21-17. Taylor remains injured with a concussion problem. But even if cleared, he will be a backup quarterback for the rest of the season.
