Gilbert and Mayfield go way back to their high school days in Texas and they’re reunited in Cleveland.
“It has been a lot of fun,” Gilbert said. “Always good to have a familiar face in the room… Baker and I go way back. We sort of grew up together playing the same position at the same school. It has been a lot of fun to get back in the same room together and be able to come to work every day with him.”
Gilbert and Mayfield starred at Lake Travis High School in Texas, located 20 miles west of the state capitol of Austin.
“He was in eighth grade when I was a senior and him and my brother were really close,” Gilbert said. “Growing up in that area, he was always over at the house. We were both fortunate to go to Lake Travis, where the quarterback there…we’ve been fortunate enough to have a lot of quarterbacks in a row there, so it was sort of a big deal.
“Baker and I sort of bonded over that early. Even when he would come over to the house to hang out with my little brother, you could tell Baker was going to be a quarterback. He’d stick his nose in there with the big kids, and he was always a competitor.”
Mayfield is one of the reasons Gilbert, who played earlier this year for the Orlando Apollos, signed with the Browns after the Alliance of American Football folded halfway through their inaugural season.
“Cleveland was always the best opportunity and the best chance for me,” Gilbert said.
“It’s great to have a familiar face in the room and being able to come back and be in the same room with him on a daily basis was certainly enticing.”
The league folded in the middle of practice.
“It was a little strange, for sure, but you take a flier on a league like that, you never know what’s going to happen,” Gilbert said. “I think there’s a reason the CFL has been the only successful professional league other than the NFL over the course of the past, I don’t know, 20 years.”
Just another chapter added to what has become a lengthy story for the 2014 sixth round pick of the Rams that also spent time with the Patriots, Lions, Raiders and Panthers prior to taking another chance with the Apollos and landing in Cleveland.
“We were actually out at a walk-through and ‘The Old Ball Coach,’ Coach Spurrier just blew the whistle and called everyone up,” Gilbert said. “Pretty matter-of-fact, ‘Well, it looks like the league’s folded, guys, so we’ll reconvene back at the hotel in an hour,’ and that was sort of the end of it.”
While Gilbert has struggled to find his footing in the game professionally, it hasn’t taken Mayfield, picked first in the 2018 NFL Draft, long to achieve stardom in Cleveland after he led the Browns to a dramatic second half turnaround as a rookie that saw him set a rookie franchise record for passing yards with 3,725 and an NFL rookie record for touchdowns with 27.
“I certainly wouldn’t say I’m surprised,” Gilbert said of Mayfield’s success.
But Gilbert, who is behind backup Drew Stanton on the depth chart, isn’t here just to cheerlead for Mayfield.
He’s here to win a job on the 53-man roster and Thursday night’s preseason opener against Washington will give him an opportunity to take a step towards that dream.
“Obviously, preseason football is very important for guys like me,” Gilbert said. “It is just another day, another chance to go out and improve and play the game. Thursday night will be a lot of fun getting out there and seeing some live bullets. My day-to-day focus is the same. It is just improving every single day, getting more and more comfortable within this offense and getting ready to play football.”
Gilbert’s chances of making the Browns’ roster appear to have improved with head coach Freddie Kitchens expressing his desire to keep three quarterbacks this season earlier this week.
“I was in Arizona when we carried two quarterbacks, and we lost one and then we lost one in the game – the most nightmarish situation that you can have,” Kitchens said. “Two weeks in a row, we signed a quarterback on Wednesday or Tuesday and played with him on Sunday. I do not want to be in that situation.”
Although Kitchens wants three QBs, there’s no guarantee the man wearing No. 3 will be No. 3.
“I like Garrett on what he has done up to this point,” Kitchens said. “I do not want to crown him just yet.”
Gilbert still has much to prove to the Browns coaching staff and front office, but he’ll get another chance Thursday night when it’ll be Mayfield’s turn to cheer for him.