Baker Mayfield stood 15 yards away from a semicircle of cameras with a member of Cleveland’s media relations staff as Browns starting quarterback Tyrod Taylor was peppered with questions.
Mayfield held his ground and waited his turn in line.
For now
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Along with learning a new playbook, offensive system, football-obsessed city and everything else that comes with being a rookie, Mayfield is getting a crash course in patience in the initial stages of his NFL career.
He’s a backup, and unless there’s a dramatic change over the next two months, it will likely be Mayfield’s role this season for the Browns.
”I’m not worried about it,” Mayfield said when asked if he felt like a backup. ”I’m just trying to get better every day. We’re still early in June, this is just the second minicamp day and so I’m not worried about that now.”
This is new, and yet not unfamiliar territory for Mayfield, who went from being a walk-on at Oklahoma to a gun-slinging, trash-talking Heisman Trophy winner last season.
The Browns drafted him first to be their long-term starter, their franchise QB, their franchise’s face. But right now, Mayfield is slotted behind Taylor
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Mayfield is not only accepting his role, but he’s modeling himself after Taylor. It’s easy now because the season seems far away and each day brings a new challenge to overcome.
But when training camp rolls around next month, Mayfield knows it’s going to be much harder to accept that he’s not the one taking snaps with Cleveland’s starters.
”It’s human nature,” Mayfield said. ”Yeah, you want to play, but I wasn’t brought here to just start. I was brought here to help turn this thing around and whatever my role is that’s what I need to do – whether that’s playing scout team or being the best backup possible or playing. So for me, I’m not worried about that. I need to be prepared for when I do get my shot to be ready to play, but other than that I just gotta continue getting better and improving this team as well.”
Mayfield believes he’s made significant strides since rookie minicamp. With each practice, he senses the game slowing down. He’s getting more confident in the pocket. He’s seeing the field. He’s deciphering complicated defenses.
He’s better, but Mayfield is far from being a finished product.
”Human nature, especially for me, I want to have it all figured out all right now, but that is just not how it works,” he said. ”It is about realizing that we are going to have to take baby steps right now to get to where I want to go. You do not build a great castle all at once. You have to build it block by block. For me
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Taylor does, too. He was once in Mayfield’s shoes, sitting behind Joe Flacco in Baltimore. He also knows how quickly things can change after being benched last season by the Bills despite having them in the playoff race.
Taylor has been impressed with Mayfield’s thirst to improve.
”He is asking questions,” Taylor said. ”He is trying to learn the playbook, as well as everyone else is. He is competing. He is a rookie. He is trying to gain as much knowledge as possible.”
Mayfield’s getting some major help from veteran quarterback Drew Stanton, who is serving as a mentor/tutor for the 23-year-old.
It’s a role the 34-year-old Stanton has performed and excelled at previously while working with Matthew Stafford and Carson Palmer, both former top overall picks.
Like Taylor, Stanton feels Mayfield has all the intangibles to succeed.
”He has a great mindset,” Stanton said. ”Just coming in here, wanting to work and get better and learn how to do all those things. He’s asking questions that are relevant. He’s engaged and he’s doing it the right way, so I think it’s a relationship that will continue to progress over a period of time. It’s not just something you build overnight, but he has all those tools that you’re excited about. Obviously, there’s a reason why he was drafted No. 1 overall.”
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When Bill Lazor looks at the Bengals’ playbook, he sees the imprint of three coordinators. He’s getting a chance to try to pull it all together and resurrect the NFL’s least-productive offense – a shocking statistic for a talented unit.
Coach Marvin Lewis’ first big decision after getting another contract extension was offering Lazor the chance to stay as coordinator and give the offense a major overhaul. The Bengals finished last in the league in offense and had the worst running game in their history
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Andy Dalton and A.J. Green will be back, along with running backs Joe Mixon and Giovani Bernard. The playbook could be noticeably different – Lazor said some things need to be done ”totally differently.”
”There are times when each of us, in order to grow, need to be pushed and need to be made uncomfortable,” Lazor said. ”Andy wants to be great, so he’ll accept that challenge if we make him uncomfortable at times.”
Dalton has worked with four offensive coordinators during his seven seasons in Cincinnati.
Jay Gruden helped Dalton and Green get grounded as rookies in 2011, the start of five straight postseason appearances and first-round losses. When Gruden left after the 2013 season, Hue Jackson replaced him, brought a different creativity to the game plan, and led Dalton to his best season – he led the AFC in passer rating in 2015.
Ken Zampese was elevated when Jackson went to the Browns after the 2015 season, and he took the West Coast offense in some different directions. It didn’t work – he was fired after the Bengals failed to score a touchdown in their first two games into this season. Lazor took over but was confined to working from Zampese’s playbook for the rest of the season and tweaking things gradually.
Now Lazor gets to analyze the offense, overhaul it, and put his imprint on it.
”If I look at the call sheet of what the plays are called here, I’d probably see things that were brought from three different coordinators
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His biggest challenge will be restoring a comfort level on the offense. The Bengals would play well for a few series or a half, then totally collapse and go long stretches without as much as a first down.
”We just have to be consistent,” Dalton said. ”Everybody’s got to be on the same page. That’s what the offseason will be for, to look at everything.”
Much of the focus will be on the line, which lost left tackle Andrew Whitworth and right guard Kevin Zeitler in free agency a year ago. They were replaced with inexperienced tackles who struggled – the running backs found few holes and Dalton was running to avoid the rush much of the time. Line coach Paul Alexander was let go on Wednesday.
Getting the line fixed is the top priority. Until the running backs get more room and Dalton gets more time, the offense will remain stuck in place.
”We have an amazing group of threats at wide receiver, and we have to capitalize on that,” Lewis said. ”We have to get our quarterback to be the guy we expect him to be day-in and day-out, and lead the football team that way. That means we have to keep him from getting jostled around.”
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