Cleveland Browns: 5 Reasons Baker Mayfield must remain starter

3. Every weapon looked better with Mayfield out there

One of the biggest things that changed in regards to the offense when Mayfield took over under center was the involvement of the players around him. One of the things that kept being discussed with Taylor at the helm was how some players who have proven to be talented or that have potential were simply nonexistent in the offense. Perhaps the two biggest cases of that were tight end David Njoku and running back Duke Johnson.

While Njoku finished with two catches (on two targets) for 36 yards and Johnson finished with two grabs (on two targets) for 24 yards, their usage with Mayfield helming the offense was blatantly increased. Even in his first time seeing NFL regular season action, it was clear that Mayfield had a firm grasp of the offense and was able to spread the ball around simply by firing it in to the open man, whoever it may be.

Make no mistake, with Josh Gordon gone, the passing offense is always going to target Jarvis Landry the most heavily, and Mayfield found the veteran wideout for several beautiful plays in the second half. However, this Browns offense has numerous other weapons to utilize that simply weren’t being used in the capacity that they should be. With Mayfield, it’s clear that they will be, at least more so than they were with Taylor throwing the football.