Cleveland Browns and Baker Mayfield should be watching for divided locker room

When pro bloviator Skip Bayless talks, it’s easy for his words to go in one ear and out the other, but his recent remarks on Cleveland Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield are concerning.

The Fox Sports “Undisputed” host said he has a source embedded within the Browns who said the team is “close to turning” on Mayfield, and it all boils down to Odell Beckham Jr.’s unceremonious release.

Bayless contends Mayfield is on the verge of losing the locker room because Beckham was a hero to many in orange helmets. He wasn’t producing on the field, but teammates saw Beckham fighting through injury constantly. Tack that with his legend stats from his days as the one-handed catch man, and you can understand why he commanded respect.

Here’s what Bayless said, via Twitter, Nov. 23. 

"“I talked to one source last night that is a very good source that is very plugged into the Cleveland Browns and knows a lot of the players. That source told me this is all about Odell,” Bayless said. “His mystique and his aura is much bigger than his production over the last four years. He has been beat up, he’s had three surgeries in four years, but I’m going to leave all that alone right now, because he’s still on a pedestal.”"

Undoubtedly, Mayfield is facing the greatest adversity of his pro career. His Progressive commercials are a fixture on television, as the viewing audience gets to see Baker Mayfield at his “house”, aka, Browns stadium.

Well, in a situation that could’ve been avoided, the Browns played Mayfield against the lowly Lions  in Week 11, only to see Mayfield get booed in his house. Not a great look. Then, his wife re-posts something questioning the team’s toughness. She said it was an accident, but I’m willing to bet you’d find some skeptics in the locker room.

Future of Baker with Cleveland Browns

Bayless then went on to question the future of Mayfield in Cleveland, saying that he may need a change of scenery because the fallout from OBJ’s departure would be too much to come back from.

Crazy to think about, considering the Browns throttled the Bengals the minute after Beckham left. That said, Mayfield and the offense have really struggled since then.

Mayfield can still save this thing, but he’s going to pull off a miracle. He’s battling multiple injuries and the next two games are against the division leading status.

If he can lift the play of the quarterback position to knock off the Ravens and former MVP Lamar Jackson, his stock will be restored to where it was after the playoff win against the Steelers.

If the losses continue to mount, I expect we’ll see more stories like this regarding Baker’s future with the team.