CLEVELAND — The Cleveland Browns are set to take on their rivals the Pittsburgh Steelers on Halloween at FirstEnergy Stadium and they have a treat as they continue preparing, announcing that Baker Mayfield will start on Sunday.
Head coach Kevin Stefanski said that Mayfield cleared all of the medical requirements for him to start Sunday and said functionally he's "100%"
Mayfield participated in his third straight day of practice Friday after missing the Browns’ Thursday Night Football game against the Denver Broncos.
#Browns Baker Mayfield back for his third straight day of practice. His left arm looked more comfortable today than it has in awhile. pic.twitter.com/5nMUFmskIQ
— Camryn Justice (@camijustice) October 29, 2021
The starting quarterback returned to practice on Wednesday after being sidelined with a shoulder injury and practiced Thursday in pads.
Before Wednesday's practice session, Mayfield said that his shoulder was feeling better and he's been working on making sure the injury heals and doesn't get worse while still fighting to return to the field by Sunday.
“It definitely did, a noticeable difference in range of motion and strength. So like I said, take it day by day and see where we’re at," Mayfield said. "I mean, yeah, I’m not exactly a doctor, I don’t know how long it takes for those things to heal, but it was mostly about the inflammation so I can get the range of motion and that strength back. That’s where we’re at and that’s where we’re continuing to evaluate.”
Mayfield was sidelined Thursday against the Denver Broncos with a left shoulder injury he sustained in Week 2 against the Houston Texans and made worse in Week 6 against the Arizona Cardinals.
The initial diagnosis was a partially torn labrum in his left shoulder, but over the weeks it was learned Mayfield fully tore his labrum in his left shoulder and also fractured the humerus bone in his left shoulder when the shoulder dislocated.
Through his efforts to get back on the field and stay ready to play, Mayfield has worn a shoulder harness and has added an arm restraint brace at times too, in an effort to stabilize the shoulder and limit the range of motion while it heals.
While Mayfield will start, other players have been ruled out or listed as questionable for the game.
Odell Beckham Jr., Jadeveon Clowney, A.J. Green, Malik Jackson and Takk McKinley have all been listed as questionable to play. Richard LeCounte III, Donovan Peoples-Jones and Denzel Ward have already been ruled out.
Camryn Justice is a digital content producer at News 5 Cleveland. Follow her on Twitter @camijustice.
RELATED:Browns QB Baker Mayfield continues to practice as he looks to return against Steelers
Download the News 5 Cleveland app now for more stories from us, plus alerts on major news, the latest weather forecast, traffic information and much more. Download now on your Apple device here, and your Android device here.
You can also catch News 5 Cleveland on Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, YouTube TV, DIRECTV NOW, Hulu Live and more. We're also on Amazon Alexa devices. Learn more about our streaming options here.
