The Baker Mayfield era has begun for the Cleveland Browns (with a win), and there should be no turning back from the rookie now.
Through the majority of the first half of Thursday Night Football, the Cleveland Browns couldn’t do anything against the New York Jets. Then Tyrod Taylor suffered a concussion late in the second quarter and everything changed. That’s because the first-overall pick from the 2018 NFL Draft, Baker Mayfield, came in as relief and the tides turned dramatically.
Once Mayfield took over the reins of the offense, what was once an anemic attack began dicing up the Jets defense. Mayfield and the Browns went on to outscore the Jets 21-3 from that point on. And, as a result, Cleveland was able to capture their first victory since 2016, moving their record to 1-1-1 on the 2018 season.
With the opening of Bud Light refrigerators and all of the excitement about the Browns, Baker-mania has officially begun in Cleveland. However, the question that remains is if Mayfield is going to take over as the starting quarterback once Taylor is healthy and out of concussion protocol.
Put simply, Baker Mayfield should be the starting quarterback of the Browns for the foreseeable future. After not working with the 1s and being named the backup, he still went into the game cold and lit the world on fire. And if that isn’t enough, let’s look at why he should undeniably be the starter in Cleveland moving forward.
5. He won
This can’t be overstated in regards to importance. The Cleveland Browns won a football game and Baker Mayfield was 100 percent the catalyst that sparked it. On Thursday night prior to Taylor’s injury, the offense looked incapable of making anything happen. As soon as Mayfield took over, that was no longer the case.
We’ll get more into that in terms of how it happened, but what you need to know is that the No. 1 overall pick from 2018 went into the game and led a team that hadn’t won since Christmas Eve 2016 to a comeback victory. That credit belongs to Mayfield and it’s direly important for this franchise turning everything around.
Whether this was real or a flash in the pan remains to be seen, but it doesn’t matter. Winning changes the perception of everything and everything that the Browns have seen from Mayfield is a victory.