Baker Mayfield’s Leadership Unquestioned With Browns

Baker Mayfield isn’t silent about much, and he certainly didn’t use his quiet voice when ripping his wide receivers over the weekend during a training camp practice.

After a scramble drill that failed, the Cleveland Browns QB laid into his wide receivers for giving up on the play, which featured a loud F-bomb that could be heard by most of the population in the Cleveland area.

The play was an example of Mayfield’s increased leadership role in Year 2 as the unquestioned starter at the quarterback position and how he’s bringing accountability to the Browns offense. He was asked about the verbal lashing he gave his pass-catchers during a press conference on Wednesday and if they talked it out after.

“I’m not a jackass. You got to talk through it,” Mayfield said. “I’m going to harp on it, then I’m going to talk to them. Those guys know that’s a big part of our offense.

“We need to be over-communicating right now. That’s what the good teams do. Like I said, we need to be on the same page.”

With some big personalities at the wide receiver position in Cleveland, most notably Odell Beckham Jr., it begged the question if his pass-catchers were taking the criticism in a stride.

“I think there’s an appreciation on my end that (Odell) is able to come and communicate and talk through things. It’s just having that open relationship,” Mayfield said. “Obviously there’s a chain of command, what Freddie says goes. But just being able to talk through things and being able to see things from their perspective or mine is really good.”

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Cleveland Browns Letting Baker Mayfield be Himself

Mayfield’s leadership style might be brash at some times, but the Browns knew that when they took the Heisman winner with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2018 draft.

Browns head coach Freddie Kitchens had a glowing response about Mayfield when asked about his leadership qualities at the opening press conference of training camp.

“Baker knows what he is doing. He is not just a guy that is just flying by the seat of his pants,” Kitchens said. “A lot of people confuse him with somebody that does not know what he is doing. He is not like that now. Don’t ever have a misconception about that. I want everybody to be themselves and then it is up to us to determine if we like that or not. We like Baker. We want him to continue doing what he is doing.”

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Baker Mayfield on Chemistry Building With Odell Beckham

The No. 1 priority for Mayfield this offseason is building a bond with Beckham, who arrived as the new No. 1 receiver in Cleveland this offseason following a blockbuster trade. 

Mayfield gave a progress update on Wednesday.

“It’s coming along great, as expected,” Mayfield said. “I’m able to kind of put it anywhere with him.”

There was no better example of that than on the first day of camp, when Beckham reeled in two highlight reel grabs that had the usually boisterous QB speechless.

“He can do things I’ve never seen before,” Mayfield said in a recent Sports Illustrated interview. “The pure talent is unreal. As we grow chemistry together, it can be pretty special. He makes my job easy. I’m happy to be able to be at camp with him and get better every day.”

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