Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield shared his negative view of Hue Jackson taking a job with the Bengals after the Browns fired him as their head coach earlier this season after the two teams met on Sunday and that opinion sparked a lot of responses from around the football world.
Some were supportive of Mayfield and others were critical, but Mayfield said Wednesday that none of it is going to change the way he carries himself in the future.
“People took it as me personally attacking Hue,” Mayfield said, via Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com. “That’s not it. It’s the fact that I get to have my own opinion on how it transpired and he gets to do what he wants. That’s how it is. Although I’m an athlete, I’m not a cookie cutter quarterback. Never have been, never will be. I speak my mind, that’s how I am. I didn’t like the move and people don’t have to care. I’m not looking for anybody’s approval. I don’t regret any of it. It’s about this team and what we have and we have to stick together and play together.”
One could nitpick some of what Mayfield has to say about not looking for anybody’s approval in light of his reaction to ex-NFLer Damien Woody sharing his own opinion about what Mayfield had to say, but that reaction certainly fits with the notion that Mayfield’s going to say whatever he wants whenever he wants.
Either way, it’s impossible to argue that the quarterback isn’t entitled to speak his mind about anything he’d like. If he does continue to do so as his career unfolds, it should make for interesting times on and off the field in Cleveland.