Baker Mayfield Says Week 1 Matchup with Browns Has Meaning: Not Going to 'Be a Robot'

On Monday, Matt Rhule announced that Baker Mayfield would be the team's starting quarterback for the first game of the season.

He told reporters that he wasn't going to pretend that the game wasn't important.

Sheena Quick @Sheena_Marie3

Baker on facing CLE Week One: “There’s a lot of attachment there.” Adds that he’s not going to be a robot and say it won’t mean anything - “It will.” pic.twitter.com/V1TddvzzXD

We are going to prepare for Cleveland three weeks from now. There is a lot of attachment there. I'm not going to sit here and say that it doesn't matter. That will happen. All that matters is that I keep improving until the regular season starts.

"League sources said the job was his to lose all along, so it wasn't a huge surprise that he won the starting job after the trade for him," DavidNewton reported.

Sam Darnold struggled as Carolina's starter last year and was competing with the veteran for the job.

Rhule said they were looking at three things when they started the process. It's situational football excellence. Getting guys involved is the third thing. Baker has made a lot of progress in a short period of time.

After the announcement was made, he reached out to him.

"Obviously, Sam and I were aware that this day was going to come," he said. We didn't know when it was going to happen or how long it would take. I was told this morning that I was going to start. He made it very clear that anything I needed in support or that aspect, he was going to be there. It shows what kind of person he is.

"My attitude is that it is what it is," he said. I'm going to do everything I can to get Baker ready for the game.

In 14 games, he threw for 3,020 yards, 17 touchdown and 13 turnovers, but he only completed 60.5 percent of his injuries.

He has a second chance in Carolina after the Browns pursued Deshaun. He will be able to show his old team what they gave up on in Week 1.