CLEVELAND — Editor's Note: The above video is from a previously published story
On this special day honoring April Fools, we've decided to take a look back to a simpler time in Cleveland sports.
Only one year ago today, the Browns and their fans were riding high. The team had just gone 11-5 and earned its first playoff victory since the Clinton administration, and against the hated Steelers, no less. They came within a few bad breaks of making it to the AFC Championship Game, and expectations were so high that many were already talking Super Bowl in 2021.
At that time, we also felt we had our franchise quarterback, and former No. 1 overall pick Baker Mayfield was a beloved figure in town. We never could've imagined him playing anywhere else, and CERTAINLY not for their archrivals across the Pennsylvania border.
It was those conditions that let to what became one of the most public April Fools' pranks in recent memory, and a story that is still receiving clicks on WKYC.com to this very day.
On April 1, 2021, Timothy Daniel and his wife woke their sons to tell them a bit of stunning news: The Browns had traded Baker to Pittsburgh. The two boys were beside themselves, with one shouting "Are you serious?!"
It was then that their mom had a question of her own: "What day is today?" One brother laughed, while the other didn't find it so funny.
The video of the interaction quickly made it's way across social media, and even caught the attention of Mayfield himself. In some form, we all shook our heads, thinking there was NO WAY such a deal could ever happen.
Oh, how times have changed.
Fast-forward 365 days, and Deshaun Watson is expected to take the reins as Cleveland's QB1 in 2022. Baker remains on the roster, but likely won't stay there for long, meaning the boys' worst nightmare from a year ago could now (in some way) come to fruition.
Of course, he still wouldn't go to the Steelers... would he?
Welp...
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