Cleveland Browns coach Hue Jackson has been clear from day one of camp: Tyrod Taylor is his starting quarterback, and No. 1 overall pick Baker Mayfield will not see the field, at least to start his rookie season.
There is some strong thinking behind Jackson’s position. He has tried to hand the Browns over to rookie quarterbacks in each of the last two seasons — Cody Kessler in 2016 and DeShone Kizer in 2017. Not only did neither of those quarterbacks work out, but neither are even with the Browns anymore.
“I’ve had two players here in the past who’d never played in the National Football League, and we put them out there,” Jackson told Albert Breer of the MMQB. “That didn’t do anybody any good. So why take a guy who we know is going to be our future and put him in that situation? We understand how hard it is to play in this league, how much you need to know, what your supporting cast has to be for you to have success.
“Why put him in a situation where maybe he wouldn’t flourish? That would make no sense.”
Jackson knows he’s been on teams where rookie quarterbacks were successful. He was the quarterbacks coach of the Baltimore Ravens in 2008, when rookie Joe Flacco led the team to the AFC Championship game. In Jackson’s eyes, though, the situation is not comparable to what the Browns face now.
“It’s the makeup of the team,” Jackson said. “When I was in Baltimore, you’re talking about Ray Lewis and Ed Reed and Haloti Ngata and Terrell Suggs and all those guys on defense — that was a different team. Here, quarterback’s gotta drive the train right now. Let’s be honest about where we’re coming from. That’s a lot of pressure, a lot of things would have to go right for him. So why do that, why force that?”
Likely making this decision easier to stand by is the fact that Mayfield reportedly simply hasn’t looked ready to start for the Browns. The way they see it, letting their rookie quarterback start carries a lot of risk and not nearly enough reward, so they’ll remain patient.
