Browns (for now) quarterback Baker Mayfield has broken his silence regarding the events that eventually will see him no longer be a member of the Browns.
“I feel disrespected,” Mayfield said in a lengthy appearance on the YNK Podcast. “One hundred percent. Because I was told one thing, and they completely did another. That’s what I’m in the middle of right now.”
He nevertheless said that he has no regrets regarding his time in Cleveland. And while he expressed no preferences regarding his next destination, Mayfield addressed what he wants generally.
“I’m just looking for stabilization right now,” Mayfield said. “And like I know what I need to do for me to be the best organization of me and be able to lead an organization. And like I’m in a good place right now. I have no clue where I’m going.”
No one does at this point. He called Seattle “the most likely option,” and he acknowledged that the Colts would have been a possibility. (They traded for Matt Ryan.)
The real question is whether Mayfield will cooperate with efforts to trade him or take the position that he should be cut, so that he can choose his next team. Given that he feels disrespected and, based on his own words, lied to, he may not be inclined to be a good soldier when it comes to the team’s effort to treat him as a pawn in the game to get value for him -- and to keep him away from a team like the Steelers.
Either way, he’s making $18.8 million next year. The goal, then, is setting himself up for a deal in 2023. Ideally, then, he’ll go to a place where he can play and play well in 2022.