Each NFL team’s biggest reason to be excited in 2018

Cleveland Browns – Baker Mayfield

He may not start Week 1, as Browns’ head coach Hue Jackson remains committed to Tyrod Taylor. But the franchise’s latest carrier of hope for the future is Mayfield, the No. 1 pick in April’s draft and the 2017 Heisman Trophy winner.

Mayfield straddles the line between confident and cocky, and he’s saying the right things about accepting a backup role at this point. But as Jackson stays behind Taylor as the starter, he also heaped praise on Mayfield early in training camp.

"Baker Mayfield has been everything I thought a quarterback should be for our organization thus far,” “He’s doing the things that we want him to do the way we want him to do it, and he’s exceeding those things. Because he’s putting in the time. He doesn’t have a pride or [arrogance] any kind of way."

Mayfield could create a quarterback controversy with a strong preseason, with the added layer of the implications being captured by HBO’s “Hard Knocks.” If Taylor has any bumps in the road at any point, Browns’ fans will be clamoring for Mayfield to be named the starter or step in and play mid-game.

But any controversy that comes with Mayfield, within reason of course and limited to on-field speculation or clamoring, will be overshadowed by the hope and excitement he brings to Cleveland this year.