The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Mayfield’s growth comes off field
Quarterback says he has to lead way in locker room in uncertain times
Baker Mayfield has accomplished the feat of shrinking and growing at the same time since playing a game for the Browns.
Baker Mayfield has accomplished the unique feat of shrinking and growing at the same time since last playing a football game for the Browns.
The third-year quarterback slimmed down after losing an unspecified amount of weight while adding four pounds of muscle mass. But his growth has gone beyond what the numbers show, he revealed Aug. 30 after practice at FirstEnergy Stadium.
“I wouldn’t say my progress is anything on the field,” Mayfield said on Zoom after practice. “I would say it’s within our locker room, getting around the guys and realizing that I have to do much more than just let my play show on the field to be the quarterback for this team.
“I have to put my arm around these guys, lead them and show them the way, and especially in these uncertain times, if the schedule changes and all that to never waver, never falter. Just showing those guys that I can be the leader, no matter what.”
The Browns open their 2020 season on Sept. 13 in Baltimore. The players are off on Aug. 31.
Judging by the way practice went on a sunny Sunday in front of socially distanced members of players’ families, the Browns still have much work to do to get ready for the Ravens, which means that leadership Mayfield mentioned is going to come in handy over the next 14 days.
The first-team offense, led by Mayfield, faced the second-team defense. The second-team offense, led by backup quarterback Case Keenum, faced the first defense.
Artificial crowd noise and some communication issues caused the quarterbacks some problems, but the “move the ball” portion of practice was an important dry rehearsal for the season ahead.
The Keenums beat the Mayfields, 14-10. Keenum started his first possession
with a 65-yard pass to tight end David Njoku to set up a four-yard touchdown pass to Damian Ratley. Keenum’s team went up 14-0 on a five-yard pass from Keenum to running back D’Ernest Johnson.
The first-team offense scored its only touchdown on a one-yard touchdown run by Kareem Hunt after Mayfield hit Njoku for seven yards on fourth-andtwo from the 9.
Unofficially, Mayfield was 11 of 14 for 156 yards. Keenum was 10 of 12 for 139 yards and two touchdowns.
Mayfield had a chance to redeem himself on a drill near the end of practice, but his pass from the 10 intended for Donovan Peoples-Jones was intercepted by undrafted defensive back Jovante Moffatt.
“Obviously, the second offense started out real hot with the big play to David,” Mayfield said. “I thought we did some things well. There
is still obviously room to improve, but it was definitely different with the constant level of that crowd noise or white noise, whatever you want to call it.
“Without the right headsets, it was a little difficult to hear the walkietalkie stuff, but that’s stuff we’re working through. It was good to get out there in the stadium for some of those guys to feel like what it would be like to play with a small crowd. There is definitely room to improve. I thought we did some things well, but we will look back on the film and probably be not as satisfied.”
What is important isn’t who won or lost an intrasquad scrimmage. What is important is how close the Browns are to being ready for the season.
“I think we are where we want to be,” said head coach Kevin Stefanski. “It’s a challenge without those (preseason) games, but that’s where we have to replicate
those moments in practice and replicate it here at the stadium.
“We have another opportunity to do that Friday night in here (at practice). We just have to be mindful about how we plan this thing and make sure that they have those moments of subbing in and out or all of a sudden it’s a field goal situation and you’re yelling for the field-goal team so that just happens in the course of games. We’re trying to do that in the course of practice.”
All NFL preseason games were canceled because of the novel coronavirus.
Injury report
The following players did not practice Aug. 30: DE Myles Garrett (wrist), LB B.J. Goodson (personal), T Chris Hubbard (ankle), CB Kevin Johnson (liver), CB M.J. Stewart Jr. (hamstring), C JC Tretter (knee), CB Greedy Williams (shoulder) and LB Mack Wilson (knee).