DETROIT – Finito! That’s it. The Cleveland Brows preseason is officially over after a dominant 35-17 win over the Detroit Lions. Per usual, the fourth preseason game was the battle of the backups as the majority of both teams gave the majority of their projected starters the night off.
That left rookie Baker Mayfield to make his first start of the preseason, as the No. 1 overall pick played the entire first half of action and got Cleveland out to a huge lead at the break. It also serves as an always important game for players on the roster bubble to make their final case to be part of the 53-man roster. The Browns brass will have some key decisions to make based on what they saw Thursday night, as the NFL’s roster cutdown deadline looming at 4 p.m. on Saturday.
Here are five takeaways from the Browns preseason finale:
1) Baker’s first start
In his first preseason start, Baker Mayfield looked sharp and he wasted no time getting started. On the first play of the game Mayfield hit Devon Cajuste for a 41-yard pass. That drive ultimately ended with a three-yard touchdown run for Nick Chubb, who only played that first series. Mayfield orchestrated another TD drive early in the second quarter, although Matthews Dayes did the heavy lifting on that one.
Still, Mayfield continued what’s been a strong preseason overall, completing nine of his 16 pass attempts for 138 yards. He finished the preseason completing 57-percent of his passes for 501 yards, two touchdowns and an interception. As the Browns have made abundantly clear, Tyrod Taylor will start the season at quarterback but Mayfield certainly added to his hype train this past month. It’s also not hard to envision Mayfield taking over under center at some point during the season.
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