After being drafted with the No. 1 overall pick in 2018, Baker Mayfield needed just three seasons to lead the Cleveland Browns to the team's only playoff win of this millennium. To reward Mayfield, the Browns completely gave up on him after a down 2022 season, instead turning to Deshaun Watson.
Mayfield floundered for two seasons with stops on the Carolina Panthers and Los Angeles Rams. He then found the home he needed all along in the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, where he has returned to the playoffs and established himself as one of the 12 best quarterbacks in the league.
Meanwhile, the Browns find themselves in the exact same quarterback cycle they were in before Mayfield was drafted. While Mayfield and the Bucs have Super Bowl aspirations, the Browns have a multi-man quarterback battle that doesn't even include Watson.
Mayfield was asked for his perspective on the Browns' quarterback battle during a recent appearance on New Heights. Baker didn't mince words.
"Listen, I plead the fifth," Mayfield told Travis and Jason Kelce. "When I was healthy, I was starting to get pretty damn good there. Not my problem anymore."
Baker Mayfield has perfectly petty response to Browns' QB situation
Well, Mayfield isn't wrong. The Browns made their bed and they have had to lay in it the last few years. Cleveland gave up on its most popular player of the last two decades and every bad break that has happened since is a reminder of that decision.
Joe Flacco, Kenny Pickett, Shedeur Sanders and Dillon Gabriel make up the quarterback room and it truly is anyone's job to win. This isn't necessarily the Fantastic Four of quarterbacks, and it's safe to say that Baker would undoubtedly start over any of these guys.
The Browns would be lucky if any of these options can be half as good as Mayfield was for the Bucs last season. But even then, that's probably not what the Browns want. Despite having four quarterbacks on the depth chart, the Browns are better off taking a shot at one of the quarterbacks in what appears to be a special 2026 draft class.
But knowing the Browns, they would probably mess that up, too. No team in the league has worse quarterback luck than the Browns, and quite frankly, it is completely deserved.
There isn't an NFL fan in the world who thinks the Browns treated Mayfield fairly. In fact, just about every Browns fan would also admit that the team completely botched the quarterback situation.
At least those same Browns fans can root for Baker in January. There won't be anything to root for in Cleveland.