BEREA — The end of Baker Mayfield’s time with the Browns was filled with animosity.
The organization decided he wasn’t the quarterback needed to win a Super Bowl and pursued Deshaun Watson. When their meeting became public, Mayfield sounded off. Watson was acquired in a trade and Mayfield was traded away months later.
As Mayfield reflects on his time in Cleveland more than four years later, he takes a more balanced view.
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“With any experience, there’s ups and downs, good and bad,” he told reporters in Tampa, Florida. “Ultimately you remember the good more so than the bad. Yeah, it’s first time having a playoff win since ’94 there, and going on the road and doing it in Pittsburgh. So it’s a lot of good memories there. A lot of teammates that are friends for life.
“But like I said earlier, it’s a very different building now.”
While Mayfield’s time in Cleveland and the controversial choice to replace him with Watson remain in the forefront of the minds of many fans, he’s right that the organization has undergone significant changes since he was shipped to Carolina for a conditional fifth-round draft pick.
Cornerback Denzel Ward and safety Grant Delpit are his only teammates who remain. Coach Todd Monken was Mayfield’s coordinator in 2019 but was fired after one year along with coach Freddie Kitchens.
Kevin Stefanski was Mayfield’s coach for his last two years in Cleveland and they didn’t see eye to eye at the end of 2021, but Stefanski was fired after last season. Owners Dee and Jimmy Haslam and general manager Andrew Berry, the people most responsible for acquiring Watson, are still atop the organization.
“I think anytime there’s history between a franchise, a coaching staff, anybody, there’s always, you want to come out on the winning side of that no matter what,” said Mayfield, the No. 1 pick in 2018. “But, yeah, I spent four years there. I’m going into Year 4 here, so I started my career there. A lot of ups and downs.
“But for me this week is doing the little things right, continuing to try and just place the ball where it needs to go. And then obviously making the things and corrections I need to and ball security.”
Ward, the No. 4 pick in 2018, called Mayfield a good friend and believes the matchup still means more.
“I’m sure it still motivates him,” Ward said. “Baker is a guy that feeds off of motivation, a lot of things.”
The Buccaneers and Browns are 0-1. Mayfield lost three fumbles in a 33-27 loss in Cincinnati.
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He signed a three-year, $165 million contract extension last week. The former college walk-on has always played with a giant chip on his shoulder but said he no longer keeps a list of doubters.
“I haven’t updated that thing in a long time,” he said. “There was a time and point where I used a lot of that negative stuff to fuel me. But you know I found a fire within.
“I still have so much to prove. The main goal is still the Super Bowl and I don’t have one of those.”
Mayfield went 29-30 with the Browns, completing 61.6 percent for 14,125 yards, 92 touchdowns, 56 interceptions and an 87.8 rating. He snapped a 19-game winless streak when he came off the bench in a Thursday night game against the Jets and re-energized the fan base.
Monken raved about Mayfield as a player and competitor.
“First off, he’s highly intelligent,” Monken said. “You could just get the beginning of a call out of your mouth and he’s already got it down. He wants the game plan early so he can look at it at home. So he comes in the building prepared.
“On the field, he’s just highly, highly competitive and he holds himself to a high standard and he holds others to a high standard, which is everything you’re looking for in a player, I guess just in a human being in general.”
The Browns had a weird year in 2019. They went 6-10 and Monken didn’t call the plays as coordinator. Mayfield passed for 3,827 yards, Jarvis Landry had 1,174 receiving yards, Odell Beckham Jr. 1,035 and Nick Chubb rushed for 1,494.
“We were kind of all over the place,” Mayfield said. “But Todd’s obviously an aggressive play caller, wants to spread the ball out, that’s just his history and background.”
Ward “definitely would enjoy” intercepting Mayfield as the defense tries to rebound from a 34-10 loss to the Jaguars.
“He’s a gunslinger. He’s going to throw the ball, take shots and try to make plays,” Ward said. “And so we just got to be there tight in coverage and try to take that ball away and execute.”
Monken thought he was going to reunite with Mayfield when he was the coordinator in Baltimore in 2023, but the Buccaneers wound up signing him for a quarterback competition. He won the job, has started every game since and got rewarded with the extension.
“We thought he was coming there to be our backup, and the Bucs signed him, and the good Lord put that in place for him, and he has taken advantage of that,” Monken said. “He’s been the one constant playing there and has played at an elite level.”
Mayfield is a father of two young children and says he’s matured since he left Cleveland. He was asked the biggest thing he learned from his time here.
“Trying to be the same person each and every day for the guys in the locker room, the people you work with, the staff that you’re around each day,” he said. “That some things are out of your control. If you’re trying to get it fixed and you’re not worried about the football aspect of your job, you’re probably letting some things slide and fall by the wayside. So I think controlling who I am each and every day, trying to lead the best way possible and control the offense and ultimately win.”
