CLEVELAND — Despite his left arm being in a sling due to a shoulder injury on Sunday, Baker Mayfield said he was "absolutely" certain that he would be able to play four days later, when the Cleveland Browns host the Denver Broncos on Thursday Night Football.
Speaking to reporters on Monday, however, Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski seemed less certain about his starting quarterback's status for this week.
"There will be time to work through all that in the next couple of days," Stefanski said. "And obviously take what the medical staff says and what Baker, in this case, says. We do that for all of our players making sure we make prudent decisions with all of these guys."
While he didn't ultimately miss a snap, Mayfield temporarily exited Cleveland's 37-14 loss to the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday after reaggravating a shoulder injury that he initially suffered in the Browns' Week 2 win vs. the Houston Texans. After the game, Mayfield revealed that he had re-dislocated his left shoulder while taking a sack from Cardinals defensive end J.J. Watt on a third-quarter play that he also fumbled on.
“It dislocated again and slipped out again on a non-contact play," he said. "Just have to figure out a way to get better.”
Dealing with a short week, Stefanski said that he is still determining how to split practice reps for both Mayfield and backup quarterback Case Keenum. According to the 2020 NFL Coach of the Year, at this point, the only thing that is certain is that the Browns will be relying on their medical staff, as well as input from Mayfield, in order to determine the No. 1 pick of the 2018 NFL Draft's availability moving forward.
"With any injury, I'm not the expert. I'm not the medical expert, so I will listen to the medical team here and we listen to the player," Stefanski said. "With every single player here, you treat them, you have dialogue with them, you talk to the doctors who will make the decisions and make smart decisions for all these guys."