BEREA, Ohio — It has long been said that an NFL season is a marathon and not a sprint, and the Cleveland Browns are firm believers in that line of thinking.
Admittedly, the Browns had their struggles in their sixth practice of training camp Wednesday, but second-year quarterback Baker Mayfield is not worried. Rather, Mayfield is focused on learning from the fumbles, dropped passes, missed kicks and procedure penalties that plagued the Browns in their first practice after an off day.
“We’ve got to get better each day,” Mayfield said. “There’s different things that within the building we need to be able to get on the same page, situational football is what you guys saw today. We need to stress that. We need to be a smart football team and be a step ahead of the game because you won’t win if you play dumb.
“There’s little things we get better at each day, but there’s also things we need to work on. That’s why it’s training camp. We’re not at the end of the year. We’re not in the playoffs. We’re working on getting better each day, and that’s the beauty about training camp. It’s not going to be perfect. You always need to have something to work on.”
While Browns coach Freddie Kitchens loudly expressed his displeasure with the mistakes in Wednesday’s practice, he is confident Mayfield will be the on-field leader the organization selected with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2018 NFL Draft.
“After that ball is snapped, we need to play smart,” Kitchens said. “We need to know what to do and what situation is occurring in front of us and react accordingly.
“This game is about the players. The coaches are not out there. The coaches can’t walk them through it every time it happens during a game. We want to develop and keep creating an environment so we can learn these things so we can be a smarter football team.”
Because Mayfield and running back Nick Chubb emerged as playmakers and leaders for the offense and with the acquisition of wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. to pair alongside his former LSU teammate, Jarvis Landry, there have been lofty expectations placed on the Browns heading into 2019.
However, despite the increased attention on the Browns, Mayfield is focused on being the same kind of leader he was for the team in the second half of the 2018 season.
“To bring the same energy every day, the positive and the winning attitude, that’s different, but we want guys to be resilient, determined, persistent and just never quit on it,” Mayfield said. “Those are the things that I would ask, and I don’t think that I’m the only one that does that whatsoever.
“You’ve got to raise your expectations within the building. Nothing outside matters, and it’s just realizing the standard we need to set every day. That’s why we brought in guys like Odell and some of the other pieces. They know they need to win. They know what it takes, and we need to stress that.”
