Baker Mayfield Dodges NFL Fine for Substance Use

Baker Mayfield may be a few years removed from being a Cleveland Brown, but he'll always have a place in fans' hearts. Whether they love him or he broke their hearts, he's there. So understandably, Browns fans were mighty interested when there was buzz that Mayfield had violated an NFL policy on substance use.

Luckily for Baker, it looks like he's going to avoid any sort of fine or suspension according to ESPN's Jenna Laine. Instead, it's just a sternly worded letter from the NFL.

His crime in question was getting caught using Zyn on the sidelines of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' Monday Night Football loss to the Baltimore Ravens. Zyn is a nicotine product (a pouch used orally to deliver nicotine, not all that dissimilar to chewing tobacco but without the tobacco), and the NFL prohibits nicotine on the sidelines and in interviews.

And really, what a hilariously Baker Mayfield way to get in trouble with the league. It harkens fans back to the days of the "Smokin' Jay Cutler" memes, when the internet was full of photoshopped pictures of Cutler on the sidelines and even on the field with a cigarette in his mouth, playing off the "don't care" attitude he always seemed to portray.

Mayfield has plenty of Cutler vibes both to his game and his gameday mannerisms, and getting caught with a gameday Zyn makes him feel like Gen Z's answer to Smokin' Jay Cutler.

Obviously, the NFL's substance rules predate a lot of more modern products like Zyn, so it remains to be seen how much of an issue this becomes moving forward. But considering the high-profile nature of Mayfield, of Monday Night Football, and of the situation, the league had to at least react. A warning letter seems like a pretty fair repercussion for something that's ultimately a pretty minor rules infraction.

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