own behalf, and hey, maybe he doesn't want to make excuses,
but it was clear. Last year the shoulder injury that he
suffered when he decided to make a tackle
after throwing an interception week to against the Texans
affected him all year long. How badly did it affect him. Let's
hear directly from Baker, Mayfield.
I tore my labrum.
Completely like full front and like basically 90% in the back
and then that was week two. I did that in the first half
played. The rest of the game was fine,
but then four weeks later we were playing the Cardinals and
I dislocated my shoulder again,
but I dislocated it so bad and a different angle that
the bone like the humerus. It goes up in your shoulder socket
like the big boner here. Hmm comes up into
your ball and socket and it forced its way out. And I frankly
Astrid the bone because it like it wasn't going to be like,
just a clean
exit, right? So I fracture the bone. So when I had the labrum
done and that fracture the inflammation, I mean, I had no
function in my left shoulder
and we were going into a week Thursday game that week
Monday. I couldn't lift my arm, but I literally when I, when
I couldn't raise my arm, I was like, I can't do this.
Fascinating
Revelation by Baker, Mayfield for a couple of reasons. First
of all,
he acted like he was fine. Yeah, he wasn't giving up. He
has that. Brett Favre. I'm not giving up my spot and letting
someone else take that my spot, I'm playing no matter what,
and he's talking about the days, preceding a Thursday
night game that they had against the Denver Broncos were
Case Keenum played and that was the
dear Ernest Johnson game had. The big performance in
the absence of Nick. Job and Kareem hunt
Baker. Mayfield admits it on Monday. He knew he couldn't do
it on Tuesday of that week. He said I'm the one who decides if
I can play. I'm the one who
I'm the, it's me, it's me, it's me, it's me. He already knows.
He can't do it. It just shows you that there's a very high
degree of turf protection that goes on in that Sport and for
good reason
because of Case Keenum comes in and lights it up. Maybe they
keep going with Case Keenum, baby. Some fans say they should
have kept going with Case Keenum last year, so So you
never want to give up your spot
in that job in that place.
And the shorter was a lot worse than
we were led to believe
and and he could say that was why I wasn't very good last
year and you know, what if you're a team that's interested
in Baker, Mayfield. You can say, hey, yeah, good year in
2018, bad year when Freddie kitchens was the head coach. No
surprise there
great year in 2020.
Last year. The only problem was he
did something stupid and weak to I was pissed off that he
threw an interception. He let his emotions take over and
again, how do you iron that out of him? I don't know. There's
the one against the car that hurt really did the shoulder
and
I still think glass is half full. If you can just
polish some of the rough spots
and speak to his better, angels. I agree.
And put the right people around him and have a coach, who knows
how to get through to him to take his self awareness.
But also, His flaws
and package it together
and Coach him the right way. That's what coaches do.
If you can figure out the right way to coach Baker, Mayfield to
be the best version of himself. He could still be a pretty damn
good quarterback. Yeah. I'm with you on that. Mike.
I really am.
I think he's got a lot of things that you like, as far as
being your franchise guy. He does have the physical Talent.
His arm is real. It is
you talk about the toughness, the Moxie, the leadership.
There is something to that again. He didn't get
the reputation of Being such a great locker room guy,
an awesome guy for nothing. There is something there to that.
Hopefully, with age here. He matures a little bit and all
that as well. The injuries were, certainly a factor in his
play. 100%. There's no doubt about that. How could it not
be?
And, you know, even again like injuries like that. They affect
a lot to where even the mental aspect or you might go. Oh man,
why, you know,
again his I know his arms. Her but why would he throw the ball
there? They'll
enjoy. Juries play into that factor to a ton though. The
pockets claps. I don't want to take this hit. Let me get it
there. You know who
this throw might have been there, but I heard some my arm.
I'm going to go to the next guy because I feel a little better
throwing the ball to that guy on that route. So it wasn't
the best decision. So that's where it affects you too. And
yeah, that's where teams are going to have to do some deep
digging and really feel comfortable with Baker,
Mayfield and the situation there. And you know, we've had
some teams that I think can do what you're talking about.
Pittsburgh Pittsburgh Pittsburgh Mike Tomlin.
Look,
We didn't know how big of a problem antoniou Brown was for
most of a decade, and
he was a problem for Mike Tomlin. He was a problem for
the Pittsburgh Steelers, a separate set of rules applied
to Antonio Brown, but he was a great player. My Tom, the found
a way to make it
work. He found a way to minimize the resentment of
Antonio Brown, you know, the stories about they'd go to
training camp st. Vincent's College and Latrobe sleeping in
dorm rooms.
Antonio Brown has
his own doll plays right off campus, right?
Different rules. Apply blows into the locker room. Yeah. As
everyone's dressed and ready for the game. But hey, it's
Antonio Brown. He's great. Will make it work. Yep, and I said
this about Ben Roethlisberger,
the transformation of Roethlisberger
happened on the watch of Mike
Tomlin when Bill Cowher, was the coach. The first three
years of Ben Roethlisberger's career. He was a tremendous
pain in the ass for teammates
and coaches. One of the first controversies involving Ben
Roethlisberger was his claim after the 2004, AFC
Championship game. That he played the game with three
broken toes.
And Bill Cowher said publicly. He did have any pain broken
toes and about right? Yeah. That's when the legend of bend
the injury embellisher began. So right Tomlin got him under
control.
I just think I think if I'm the Browns, I'm scared to death
that this is going to end up with Baker, Mayfield going to,
Pittsburgh, and being better there than he ever was with
the Browns and beating the Browns far more often than not,
not just in 2022,
but beyond just as the Steelers are looking for a quarterback
to build around, they get a guy who just turned 27, who could
be there for 10 years and
and continue to be a thorn in the side of the Browns, in
a very different way. That's the outcome. I think the Browns are
trying their damndest to avoid Chris. Well, I would scare
them. I'm sure
it would.
We'll see. We'll see, you know, hopefully we'll,
we'll know the next month is going to tell us the next three
weeks. You're going to tell us I think between the draft and
things like that, that's where we're going to be least lead.
Down a little bit of a direction here of where it
could possibly end. But I think the options are limited and
I think we kind of hit
on the two teams 3ish. Maybe that makes sense, but I don't
think there's anything else out there. Other than that,
Seattle, Pittsburgh Detroit. Yeah, Seattle, Pittsburgh
Detroit, even though Detroit has said or done nothing to
reflect any interest whatsoever. It is obvious to
me that Baker. Mayfield is the
personification of the attitude that Dan Campbell and Chris
Spielman are currently trying to put into that organization
and he is Thousand times more apt to be that guy
then Jared Goff. Sorry,
it's true read. So the Lions should be interested and Buddy.
Boy should be chopping. His gum and pounded on the table to get
Baker, Mayfield to
Detroit.