Like it or not, Baker Mayfield handled the fallout of the Lions game correctly

Baker Mayfield did the right thing by declining to talk after the Lions game.

The Browns are having a rough year, and their quarterback is having a rougher one. Suffering a torn labrum in his left shoulder in just the second game, he’s gone on to fracture a bone in the same shoulder, injured his knee to the point of numbness setting in, and further got hurt with a heel injury recently. All of this has impacted his play considerably. An arguable Top 10 quarterback when healthy, Mayfield is anything but currently. That means he’s going to be prone to some bad games. So it wasn’t that surprising that Mayfield had a bad game on Sunday against the Lions and then opted to skip out on talking to the press.

He was angry, frustrated, and in pain; what good was going to come of that?

In the real world, no one goes through this type of job review. Could you imagine being an IT analysis and having your performance reviewed after getting knocked around for three hours by guys twice your size? Then have every little mistake hyper-analyzed, all while being asked questions that are less about your performance and more about trying to bait you into a soundbite?

You’d be pissy too.

Players don’t owe anyone, least of the media, anything

People like to chastize athletes that don’t kowtow to the media following bad losses. These men are in a lose-lose situation. Either you do the interview with no emotion, and people say you didn’t care, or you do the interviews being honest and showing that you care and you get accused of being too emotional. Then if you don’t do it; whoa boy, you’re not a leader and you let everyone down! Then again, if you’re emotionally compromised and you go out there and say the wrong thing, then you have to apologize for letting your emotions get the best of you.

The worst yet is that regardless of the few ways you can play it, someone will always use it as a way to prove their point. “He doesn’t care, told you he can’t lead.” “He was too emotional, told you he couldn’t lead!” “He skipped out, what a baby! Not a leader!” “Real leaders wouldn’t let their emotions come out like that, he’s soft!”

Either way you play it, someone’s going to use it against you.

I’m not a fan of athletes being forced to speak to the media in general. Most times athletes will just give you run-of-the-mill answers, or go full MMA and just make up beef to draw interest to themselves. It’s exhausting getting watered down and fake versions of real people. Athletes hate it too.

I especially hate it when a player is compromised, be it emotionally or physically. If you think that a football player or any other athlete should behave differently than you at home would, you’re the problem in this scenario. Not the athlete. When a player is stressed, exhausted, mad, and in pain, what good does it do him, his team, or the media to put him on a podium and ask him invasive questions?

Nothing. It just helps get some writers a better headline to sell. It’s toxic as hell, and a sign that athletes have a right to be mad at the media. Mayfield did nothing wrong by prioritizing his health over anything on Sunday. None of his teammates were forced at gunpoint to speak, and the only thing putting a frustrated and irritated player in front of a bunch of microphones would do is open up a can of worms. The media will do anything they can to get soundbites from him or his teammates. So regardless of how he plays it, his teammates will have to bear the brunt of any of his decisions. If he gets snippy, people will ask his teammates about it. If he doesn’t show, people will ask his teammates about it. If he does everything right, guess what, people will ask his teammates about it.

His speaking doesn’t help his teammates.

Every situation becomes just an excuse to hammer him or his teammates. Mayfield doesn’t have to do everything for everyone else. Ask anyone who has ever led anything, they’ll tell you, you’re not helping those around you if you’re not helping yourself. Mayfield prioritized his own mental-well being on Sunday night and that’s not a bad thing. It’s also not a selfish thing. In the day and age of awareness over mental health, the fact there are still outdated mindsets over what constitutes toughness and leadership these days is pitiful.

Akron Beacon Journal writer Marla Ridenour lambasted Mayfield for not speaking after the win and even pointed to how Tim Couch and Colt McCoy spoke to the media after sustaining concussions. Bringing them up was done specifically to take a shot at Mayfield. Yet, citing them doesn’t invalidate Mayfield, it invalidates her, mostly because she claimed Mayfield was “healthy” when he hasn’t been all year.

She must be a casual reporter.

These are human beings, and at the end of the day, if they need a few hours to decompress before talking about what went wrong, that’s fine. This is a game. Mayfield isn’t the acting police chief of a Gotham City in the middle of a Joker-led terrorist plot. There’s no need to give you answers at 4:40 on a Sunday afternoon when you can get the same answers at noon on Monday after he’s had a chance to calm down and decompress.

Mayfield and any other athlete who feels they need space and time should be given such. There is no reason that anyone should be speaking after a game. There is nothing to gleam on Sunday that won’t be there on Monday. No one is on trial, there is no murder mystery, not every moment matters.

Mayfield choosing the best path forward for him on Sunday is the best thing a leader can do. Show others that it’s ok to take care of yourself, especially after you spent the entire day getting your face kicked in for your team.

It’s time to let these guys off the hook for being human. The only thing that you need to have to be a good leader is the respect of those around you and you better believe his teammates respect Mayfield.