BEREA, Ohio — Baker Mayfield walked into the media tent wearing a bucket hat with a Gatorade towel around his neck, but it was the full-go beard that drew attention on the first day of Browns training camp on Thursday.
Why did you go grow the beard?
"I don't know," he replied.
Get used to the questions. Mayfield, the No. 1 pick in the 2018 NFL Draft, will be expected to have an answer for everything now. Reporters quizzed Mayfield about his summer engagement, the viral back-and-forth with Fox Sports radio host Colin Cowherd, the "Next Level: Behind Baker" docuseries and much more. Yet there's only one question that matters for the franchise quarterback-in-waiting.
How will Mayfield handle the backup quarterback role behind Tyrod Taylor one year after winning the Heisman Trophy as college football's biggest star at Oklahoma?
"I would never get my mind right to be a backup," Mayfield said. "That's the second that I would be complacent. That's the second that I would stop working. You always have to keep working like you are going to be the best."
MORE: NFL's best, worst QB rooms in 2018
Mayfield put an "emphasis" on the word "never," but don't misconstrue this answer as passive-aggressive pining for the starting job. It's the same "team player" mantra Mayfield supplied at rookie minicamp and will likely have to parrot throughout his rookie year. Browns coach Hue Jackson opened camp by reiterating Mayfield isn't ready and won't be taking many first-team snaps heading into the preseason opener against the Giants and No. 2 overall pick Saquon Barkley on Aug. 9.
Does Jackson's stance bother Mayfield?
"No, absolutely not," Mayfield said. "They're doing everything that they think is right. I believe in that. I believe in them."
Jackson believes it's a process, and it will come with each practice. On Tuesday, that development came in red-zone drills. Mayfield made the plays when needed.
"He's progressing and improving, and I saw some of that improvement today," Jackson said. "Normally he would flush out to the right side when the pressure came, but he stood in there, especially down in our scoring zone area and made some plays. That was good to see."
Fans also a got first look at Mayfield in training camp, and a loud afternoon crowd serenaded him from the sidelines with chants of, "Ba-ker May-field! Ba-ker Mayfield!"
Mayfield showed some of that improvisational play-making with the second team, including a deep shot to Antonio Callaway. It's that tantalizing play-making ability that will test Cleveland fans' patience should the Browns struggle early this season with Taylor.
MORE: How hot is Jackson's seat as coach?
Mayfield, however, insists he's working from the bottom up, much like he did as a walk-on at Texas Tech and as a transfer at Oklahoma.
"I go out here and say I'm trying to make my team better," Mayfield said. "Whatever role that is, I am going to try to do that."
So that will be the plan at the start of the 2018 season, one that has generated excitement for a franchise ready to build form the bottom up. Rookies Cody Kessler (2016) and DeShone Kizer (2017) started as rookies the last two seasons, and they combined for an 0-23 record as starters with 17 TDs and 25 interceptions. That's sufficient evidence to prove Cleveland's new plan is better for the short term. Mayfield even joked he hasn't "been in the area long enough to say I'm a true Clevelander."
For the long term, Mayfield will have to work his way up to a shot at the starting job. He'll try to keep his personal life quiet, and he said the emphasis is to focus on the day-to-day details that separate a "good quarterback and a great quarterback." The waiting is the hardest part, but every day brings one more card for Mayfield to use when he gets the chance to start.
MORE: NFL quarterback rankings for 2018
He knows how to make light of the situation, too. In the final minutes of the breakout session, a truck stuck in reverse beeped continuously — a piercing noise that cut through each question.
Mayfield didn't flinch. He answered each question with poise and patience, and that's as good a start as any to a year that will test both. So far, it appears Mayfield knows exactly what he's doing.
"People just don't understand the mental side of the game," Mayfield said. "Yes, we have some of the most-athletically talented people in the world, but it's a lot of mental stuff. You have to know you're job and know it well and go out and play."
