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CLEVELAND, Ohio – Baker Mayfield can think of his trip to Jacksonville this weekend almost like a mini-vacation, not a job.
Stefanski revealed on Wednesday that Mayfield won’t be in the preseason opener on Saturday night, and Case Keenum will get the green light. Third-team quarterback Kyle Lauletta will likely have some playing time as well.
It’s a smart move by Stefanski, who knows it’s more important to keep Mayfield healthy this preseason than giving him a few reps in a meaningless preseason game, where some defenders are pushing hard to make a name for himself.
It has been a common theme around the NFL for newbies not to participate in the preseason opener. In fact, Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger is also sidelined in his second preseason game as Mason Rudolph takes the start.
With a number of other Browns starters due to rest on Saturday night, it made no sense to put Mayfield in jeopardy. Tight end David Njoku is suffering from a shoulder injury and will likely be out of the game. Odell Beckham Jr. is still coming back from his ACL surgery in October and might not play at all in preseason.
Keenum, meanwhile, can use reps to help keep him cool in case he’s in a rush to serve this season. He hosted a clinic in the Orange-Browns scrum on Sunday, throwing touchdown passes into each of his two cracks during the two-minute drills – against the Browns’ first-team defense. The first was a 39-yard pass on a post road to second-year tight end Harrison Bryant on Jovante Moffatt, and the second was a 1-yard Njoku-bound score on rookie safety Richard LeCounte.
Keenum has extensive experience in handling that Kevin Stefanski offense, having gone 11-3 with Stefanski as quarterbacks coach at Minnesota in 2017. He also led the Vikings to the NFC Championship game that year, throwing 22 touchdown passes against just seven interceptions during the regularity. season en route to a score of 98.3.
Keenum served as a mentor to Mayfield and almost another coach on the field. They are great friends and the Browns will be in good hands if the durable Mayfield ever runs out of time. Remarkably, he hasn’t missed a game with injury since taking over as a three-game starter in the 2018 season.
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