CLEVELAND — All good things must come to an end.
Cleveland Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield will be tying the knot with his fiancée, Emily Wilkinson, this summer, and ahead of the impending nuptials, the second-year player parted ways with his beloved trademark beard.
The Browns tweeted out a picture of #beardlessbaker shortly after the conclusion of Thursday’s organized team activities practice at team headquarters in Berea, and in minutes, the post drew more than 200 retweets and 1,200 likes.
“The end of an era,” the Browns wrote, accompanied by two photos of a much younger looking Mayfield going through drills during practice.
Mayfield started growing a beard after leading the Browns to a come-from-behind victory over the New York Jets in front of a national television audience on the NFL’s Thursday Night Football broadcast last September, but departed from it after a lopsided loss to the Los Angeles Chargers at FirstEnergy Stadium a few weeks later.
However, Mayfield grew back the beard over the final eight weeks of the 2018 regular season and maintained it through his trip to Super Bowl LIII in Atlanta.
When Mayfield reported for the offseason program on April 1, he had an even more impressive beard and kept it through the first few phases of the spring work. But with his wedding less than two months away, Mayfield ditched the beard and went with the clean-shaven look.
Do not panic too much though, as word at Wednesday's practice was that the beard will be back when Mayfield reports for the start of training camp at the end of July.