CLEVELAND, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – With a rematch against his former team looming to kick off the season, Panthers quarterback Baker Mayfield finds himself embroiled in a controversy he didn’t even create.
During a recent ‘Around the NFL’ podcast, NFL Network analyst Cynthia Frelund, who served as the Bills TV sideline reporter during the preseason, claimed that Mayfield colorfully expressed his desire to beat the Browns in Week 1.
“I walked up to him and said, ‘I’m so excited to see you, like, go kick some butt,’ I didn’t say that word” Frelund said on the podcast. “Go kick some butt, especially Week 1, I like cannot wait. And he uses some expletives, and I was like, ‘I just hope you’re like ready.’ He was like, ‘I’m gonna [f-] them up.”
Wednesday Mayfield fielded a dozen questions from Carolina reporters about the alleged comment that went viral shortly after the podcast published Monday.
“Well first, I didn’t say it,” Mayfield told reporters Wednesday in Carolina. “Obviously, I mean, everybody’s going to write whatever story they want. There’s history that I played there over the last four years. I’m an extremely competitive person. Everybody knows that. If I wasn’t wanting to win, there would be a really big issue with me being the quarterback here, so I want to win in everything I do. That’ll never change.
“Now, that is not how I phrased it. That’s not even what I said so let’s leave it at that.”
Since then, Frelund has walked back her account of their private conversation that took place on the field in Buffalo and Mayfield got to tell his version of the story Wednesday afternoon.
“I’ve known Cynthia for years and she said I looked happy, I looked healthy, looked like I was in a good place and I said. ‘yeah, yeah,’ Mayfield said. “[She] Said ‘I hope you go take it over’ and obviously [was] descriptive but I said, ‘yeah me too’ so that’s the extent of it. It’s obviously a bigger story because I haven’t given the media what they wanted me to give them this year and this offseason, so this is what they think that I’ve said and it’s not, so take it and run with it, but I know what I did and our team knows what I said so it’s alright.”
The comment Frelund attributed to Mayfield lit a fire in Cleveland too.
Browns All Pro defensive end Myles Garrett told Tom Withers of the Associated Press that they’ll definitely use it as motivation. Wednesday afternoon, cornerback Greg Newsome II agreed.
“For sure. You try to find anything that can give you an edge,” Newsome said. “So something like that being said, whether he phrased it like that or not, we can just use that for our benefit and go out there and just try and get a win Week 1.”
Even if Mayfield didn’t say it, the toothpaste clearly is out of the tube.
“I just feel like at the end of the day whether he said it or not, we’ve got to go out there and perform,” Newsome said.
“For me personally, yeah, I like stuff like that. I told you I talk smack on the field, so stuff like that doesn’t necessarily bother me. I’m a competitor, they’re all competitors, so it’s going to be fun Week 1.”
Mayfield admitted he’s less than thrilled with having to deal with a controversy he had no part in creating.
“Yeah, it was one thing… I’m off social media right now so seeing it brought to my attention was kind of shocking to me, and just finding out that way,” Mayfield said. “It is what it is, but also at the same time I still have to control what I can.
“It’s frustrating in the sense that that’s not the way it happened but at the same time you just gotta move forward. People are going to say whatever they want but as long as I handle my job and my profession and show our guys that it’s all about winning within the building, that’s what really matters.”
Frelund reached out to Mayfield this week according to the quarterback but he’s already moving on.
“I could care less. I’m moving forward,” Mayfield said. “I’m preparing for week 1 and still training to get ready to go. This is just a little slight distraction just answering questions right now and in the grand scheme of things it really does not matter.”
Mayfield has been a lightning rod for controversy dating back to his college days. It’s something that he’s used to.
“That’s just the way it is,” Mayfield said. “I’ve always had fun playing football. That’s never going to change, and I enjoy it and I’m passionate about it. Nobody can take that away from me, but off the field I’ve learned to keep it to the minimum, keep it within house and just talk to our guys and our people and that’s what matters.”
The Browns traded Mayfield to the Panthers in July after nearly four months of drama after the team acquired Deshaun Watson, who began an 11-game suspension this week following a disciplinary settlement with the NFL in the wake of sexual misconduct allegations from over two dozen women, in March from the Texans.
Cleveland will also pay over $10 million of Mayfield’s salary this year making the September 11 game must see TV.
“In the grand scheme of things guys, it’s a great storyline,” Mayfield said. “It really is because I wasn’t expected to be out of Cleveland. It’s a great storyline but after Week 1 there’s 16 more that really, really matter and so that’s how I’m approaching it and that’s pretty much it.”