BEREA, Ohio — Cleveland Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield took to social media Tuesday to address his comments in an article in GQ Magazine where he appeared critical of the New York Giants selecting former Duke quarterback Daniel Jones with the No. 6 overall pick in the 2019 NFL Draft.
Following the final practice of training camp in Berea, Mayfield spoke on the topic to clear the air about the interview.
“This is the one and only time I’ll address this issue because that interview was done back in April, like right after the draft, and just things taken out of context, and that’s the problem with today’s day and age,” Mayfield said.
“You don’t read the whole thing. You don’t put two-and-two together. You just kind of read scripts, and then, people, they combine sentences from different conversations. It seemed very disrespectful, and I can understand that, but what people didn’t realize is the conversation entailed of me saying I was surprised that I was No. 1 overall, too, me going on a rant after that about QB evaluation, and then, frustration from recruiting processes and stuff that I’ve had. It’s very well documented my thoughts on a lot of that. It had nothing to do specifically about Daniel, about the winning and stuff.”
Mayfield felt compelled to reach out to Jones following the publication of the interview and found the hype about him being a great person to have in the locker room was true.
“I wanted him to know how I felt and I’ve heard nothing but great things from Saquon (Barkley) and Sterling Shepard, guys that have a lot of respect for him and respect their opinions,” Mayfield said. “I just wanted to clear the air with him, and you know, it is what it is.
“He was very nice, everything that people have said about him. He was cordial. He said, ‘No worries, man.’ Because I know Saquon and Sterling and a couple of guys over there as well, so I think that’s the good thing about having people around the league that you know is it can be said, whatever’s on the outside, people can have their opinions, but when it comes down to it, I’ve worked with some people and they know how I am inside the building and who I am as a person.”
Mayfield understood the negative reaction to his comments, including that of former Browns and current Giants coach Pat Shurmur, who said, ‘Quite frankly, on our list of issues of the day, it really doesn’t matter what Odell and Baker say.’
But it mattered to Mayfield how his words were perceived.
“To me, that came back on my character,” Mayfield said. “That’s one thing that…I don’t care about a lot of opinions, if you like me or not, but that looked like my character was way out of line, and so, that’s the only reason I addressed it.
“Once it came out, I was like, ‘Wow, I completely forgot that we even had that conversation back in April.’ I was pretty confused about it, to be honest with you, because that wasn’t what the conversation was.”
“That’s the type of thing that frustrates me because it was taken out of context, and then, on top of that, now we’re talking about something that’s not about the Browns, so to me, that’s the biggest thing.”