Baker Mayfield’s immaturity shows up again right before the NFL Draft
Baker Mayfield did not impress the Los Angeles Chargers.
The last thing Baker Mayfield should want this week is to make headlines for the wrong reasons. He’s trying to rocket up the NFL Draft board. Unfortunately, his negative interactions with the Los Angeles Chargers could cause his draft stock to plummet.
Mayfield admits that he didn’t prepare as much as he should have in advance of his meeting with Chargers officials. Per his own admission, the meeting with the team didn’t go as well as it could have due to his lack of familiarity with the playbook. Mayfield tried to excuse his poor decision-making by telling everyone that he has a “lot on his plate” at the moment.
It’s fair to say that Chargers GM Tom Telesco isn’t overly sympathetic to Mayfield’s busy schedule. When asked about the Oklahoma quarterback’s comments about being too busy to study the Chargers’ playbook he declined to comment. He followed that up with a clever quip about his plate being too full to prepare a response.
Oklahoma QB Baker Mayfield then: "I didn’t look at (the Chargers) playbook as much as a I should have. It could have gone a little bit better . . . but at the same time, I’m prioritizing which playbooks I’m going to learn. No offense to them, but I’ve got a lot on my plate.”
— Dan Woike (@DanWoikeSports) April 23, 2018
Chargers GM Tom Telesco today when I asked him about this: "I’m probably not prepared to comment on that. My plate’s pretty full. No offense, Dan." https://t.co/0zXlIygnKG
— Dan Woike (@DanWoikeSports) April 23, 2018
The timing of this story couldn’t be worse for Mayfield. This isn’t Laremy Tunsil territory, but it’s a huge red flag for a quarterback who came into the draft process with serious questions about his maturity. To Mayfield’s credit, he seemed to be doing a good job of answering those questions in a positive light in recent weeks. Comforting teams about his maturity level was helping Mayfield shoot up the draft boards.
Now, many of the teams interested in Mayfield’s services should be questioning their willingness to invest a high pick in a player with Mayfield’s off-the-field baggage. There really shouldn’t be anything in his life more important than the draft process at the moment. At best, his poor effort for the Chargers is indicative of poor time management. At worst, it’s a sign that he doesn’t care as much about football as he should.
Next: Patriots are using Lamar Jackson as a smoke screen
If teams believe this is an isolated incident they may still leave Mayfield high atop their draft boards. If they think this is another instance of poor judgment from the talented signal caller, they may remove him from their boards entirely. This was a really poor mistake at a really poor time for Mayfield.