CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Baker Mayfield, the Browns' No. 1 pick, will never settle for being No. 2.

"Uh, I would never get my mind right to be a backup,'' Mayfield said about his summer mindset. "That's the second that I would be complacent. That's the second that I'd stop working.

"You've always got to keep working like you're going to be the best and that's the same thing Tyrod (Taylor) has done his whole life. It doesn't matter the position you're in. If you're not going to work hard, then you're not doing it right."

On Wednesday, coach Hue Jackson made it clear that Mayfield is not 'ready to walk out there right now and play.' Mayfield isn't expected to get many first-team reps to even have a chance to upstage Taylor.

But Mayfield isn't bugged by the strategy.

"No, absolutely not,'' said the reigning Heisman Trophy winner. "They're doing everything they think is right and I believe in that and I believe in them. So when it comes down to the stuff that they're saying, that's not going to change my work ethic and if it does, then something's wrong."

In rookie minicamp, he said he would seek the starting job even though he's been told it's Taylor's. On Thursday, he toned that down a little.

"I go out here to say I'm trying to make this team better and whatever role that is, I'm going to do that,'' he said.

Mayfield has until the end of camp, around Aug. 22, to state his case for playing time. Once the regular season begins, quality reps are hard to come by for the backup. But he's been here before, walking on twice to win the starting jobs at Texas Tech and Oklahoma.

His teams went 33-6, he won the Heisman Trophy, played for a national championship and climbed all the way to the summit of the draft. So having to go from No. 2 to No. 1 doesn't scare him.

"I think anytime you gotta earn a spot on a team, absolutely, it's the same kind of mind-set (as being a walk on)," he said.



He's had plenty of fuel for the fire along the way. Fox Sports 1's Colin Cowherd called him "undraftable." To which Mayfield retorted on Twitter "Well it happened bud. Have a nice day!"

He later sparred with Cowherd on camera, and many think he won the day.

"It's in the past, but he's good at what he does, I'll say that," Mayfield said. "He creates a lot of commotion and that's what he's supposed to do. He gets people to watch his show.''

Mayfield doesn't believe it will be difficult to strike a balance between fighting for the job and knowing his place behind Taylor.

"My place here, why they drafted me was to help turn it around, so if I'm not fighting like crazy to be the best version of myself and to help this team, I'm not doing my job,'' he said. "You know, everything happens for a reason. I've just got to be ready for my opportunity."

Mayfield is so pumped for his first training camp that he's not letting Josh Gordon's absence at the start of camp dampen his enthusiasm.

"Josh's health is the most important thing," he said. "He's doing all the right things to take care of himself.

"Yeah, we'd love to have Josh whenever that time comes, we'd be more than happy to have him just because of how talented he is and who he is. So whenever that is we're excited, but for now we're playing."

Coach Hue Jackson addressed the team about Gordon's absence on Wednesday to help avoid unneeded distractions.

"Yeah, it caught people off guard but at the same time he's doing what's best for him so that's more than OK,'' said Mayfield. "Everybody understands that, it hasn't been a negative thing at all."

But if the Browns bring in former Cowboys wide receiver Dez Bryant for a workout, fellow Texas native Mayfield would be thrilled.

"We have talent in that room so we're expecting somebody to step up. But obviously any time you talk about bringing in a guy like that from Texas, that's pretty exciting,'' he said. "He's a good player and so we'll see what happens but for now, we're good with what we have."

Mayfield's summer break included a trip to Hawaii, working out with Taylor and other Browns teammates at USC, and getting engaged to Emily Wilkinson.

"Some exciting things have happened,'' he said.

As for the engagement, "it just felt right. ... She's been the best thing for me and it felt like the right time."

Mayfield returns with a much better grasp of Todd Haley's playbook. As minicamp, ended Haley said the rookie had a long way to go, but Mayfield plans to surprise him over the next few weeks.

"This is why I'm very excited about training camp, not only because it means the season's around the corner, but we're not installing new plays,'' he said. "We're kind of reviewing the stuff we've gone over, so it's like doing it a second and third time. So now I can not try and cram everything into practice and do all of that. I can actually refine it, study it, the little details and that's what makes people different.

"That's the difference between a good quarterback and a great quarterback, it's little details on each play, so that's what I'm trying to take care of right now."

In due time, he'll take care of that little issue of being No. 2.