Baker Mayfield thinks Browns wanted him to look bad?

Nov 21, 2021; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; Cleveland Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield (6) walks off the field after the Browns beat the Detroit Lions at FirstEnergy Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports

Things are so toxic between Baker Mayfield and the Cleveland Browns that the quarterback apparently wondered if the team was actively trying to make him look bad toward the end of the season.

ESPN’s Jake Trotter wrote a lengthy piece about how the relationship between Mayfield and the Browns deteriorated over the course of the 2021 season. One anecdote contends that things were so bad toward the end of the season that Mayfield’s camp questioned whether the organization was sabotaging him.

Mayfield struggled on Jan. 3 against the Pittsburgh Steelers, a nationally-televised “Monday Night Football” game. The Browns lost that game 26-14, with a banged-up Mayfield going just 16-of-38 with two touchdowns and two interceptions. After the game, Mayfield criticized the team’s offensive gameplan, suggesting it did not do enough to help the offensive line protect him from Pittsburgh’s pas rush.

In light of his performance and injuries, removing Mayfield certainly would have been justified. However, the Browns left him in for the entire game, reportedly leading some in Mayfield’s camp to wonder if the team was intentionally trying to make the quarterback look bad in prime time in order to justify moving on from him during the offseason.

That is quite an allegation, and not one that necessarily makes sense. After all, Mayfield was still firmly entrenched as Cleveland’s starting quarterback. If he was too hurt to perform well, he should not have been playing, and he ultimately did sit out the team’s season finale a week later after they were eliminated from playoff contention.

The biggest takeaway is that Mayfield and his camp clearly do not trust the Browns at all, and did not even then. Perhaps a parting of ways was inevitable.