Cleveland Browns: Hue Jackson appears to take dig at Baker Mayfield

Hue Jackson apparently has taken issue with Baker Mayfield.

Words matter. They always have. Specific meanings and definitions exist for a reason. Sentence structure is so important that it’s taught every year in English classes around the United States. Former Cleveland Browns head coach Hue Jackson is no fool. Jackson knows what to say keep his names in the headlines. So it’s no wonder that Jackson would take a quiet shot at Baker Mayfield .

After all, Jackson has a book to sell in 2021.

Appearing on the June 5 edition of the Really Big Show with Tony Rizzo and Adam Goldhammer, Jackson took a shot at Mayfield’s personality and behavior. “I still think this guy is going to be a really good player. … The player, I’ve never had a problem with the player.”

Mayfield and Jackson had a dysfunctional relationship to the point that when Jackson was fired, his good friend Marvin Lewis brought him on the Cincinnati Bengals coaching staff almost immediately. This prompted Mayfield to take some verbal shots at Jackson for taking the job. The feud then boiled over into the national media, becoming a distraction for both teams.

It’s not like Jackson doesn’t have a case, however. While we all loved Mayfield standing up for the team and city, Jackson has every right to work. Sure, there’s the tribalism mindsight that we as sports fans heavily embrace (screw you Pittsburgh), but beyond that scope, Jackson did nothing wrong by taking the job. Part of the fun of being a fan is giving Jackson hell for doing just that. It adds to the drama. That doesn’t make it any more wrong, however.

Mayfield himself has had his fair share of issues. There was the run-in with the law while he was with Oklahoma, the flag-planting in Columbus, the shots at then-teammate Duke Johnson, allegedly coming into training camp overweight and of course his need to make every spat with the media into some sort of personal war.

So Jackson may not be out of line in his assessment on Mayfield, or to be more accurate, on who Mayfield was.

In 2020 Mayfield has appeared to be a different person. Almost like he left the bravado of being a Heisman winner at home this off-season. He’s been quiet, respectful, optimistic, and is trying to be the type of leader teams can rally behind. This is a different, hopefully, more improved, Mayfield.

Jackson may have every right to not like who Mayfield was as a 23-year-old, but failure does a wonderful thing. It humbles us. It gives us a perspective that we’d otherwise never have. It focuses us and allows us to see where we faltered and how to rectify those issues. That appears to be what Mayfield is doing these days, and let’s hope that it’s for real. That it pays off and this team is finally back to being a team that fans can respect again.