Baker Mayfield expected to practice this week despite injury

It was a bad day all around on Sunday for the Cleveland Browns as they dropped a game to the Pittsburgh Steelers, essentially ending their playoff hopes for 2019.

But it could have been far worse.

Quarterback Baker Mayfield left the game near the end of the first half after hitting his right hand on the facemask of Steelers linebacker Bud Dupree on a deep pass attempt to wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. As Mayfield ran into the locker room, it appeared that the bad news would soon follow.

Mayfield was able to return to the game, however, and following the loss he explained that his hand was just “a little numb” and sounded confident that everything would be fine as the X-rays taken at the stadium were good.

Head coach Freddie Kitchens echoed those thoughts on Monday when he said that the Browns do not expect Mayfield to miss any time as the team prepares for Sunday’s home game against the one-win Cincinnati Bengals, according to clevelandbrowns.com:

“I think Baker does a good job of compartmentalizing through pain and getting to the game healthy. He will get his work done this week. He will be at practice, and he will get his work done with week. He does not like to miss practice. Baker should be fine this week.”

Not much went right for the Browns on Sunday against the Steelers.

Thankfully, Mayfield avoiding a potential season-ending injury was one aspect of the day that went in Cleveland’s favor.