Officially, the Browns have not named Baker Mayfield their new starting quarterback. Realistically, everyone knows Mayfield will start next week after taking over for an injured Tyrod Taylor on Thursday night and leading Cleveland to its first win since 2016.
When Mayfield does become the starter officially, he’ll be the 30th starting quarterback for the Browns since they re-entered the league in 1999.
Here’s the full list of Browns quarterbacks since they re-entered the NFL in 1999: Tim Couch, Ty Detmer, Doug Pederson, Spergon Wynn, Kelly Holcomb, Jeff Garcia, Luke McCown, Trent Dilfer, Charlie Frye, Derek Anderson, Ken Dorsey, Brady Quinn, Bruce Gradkowski, Colt McCoy, Jake Delhomme, Seneca Wallace, Brandon Weeden, Thaddeus Lewis, Jason Campbell, Brian Hoyer, Johnny Manziel, Connor Shaw, Josh McCown, Austin Davis, Robert Griffin III, Cody Kessler, DeShone Kizer, Kevin Hogan, Tyrod Taylor.
Over the same period of time, the Patriots have had only five starting quarterbacks: Drew Bledsoe and Tom Brady, as well as Matt Cassel in the year Brady missed with a knee injury, and Jimmy Garoppolo and Jacoby Brissett during Brady’s four-game Deflategate suspension. Time will tell if the 23-year-old Mayfield can hold the starting job long enough that he’s still Cleveland’s starter when the 41-year-old Brady is done in New England.