Paul Finebaum brutally torches ‘punk’ Baker Mayfield

Count Paul Finebaum among those not feeling particularly sorry for Cleveland Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield these days.

The longtime ESPN host and college football analyst sounded off on Mayfield during a Friday appearance on ESPN Cleveland. Finebaum offered up a brutal comparison for Mayfield and said the Browns should try to move on from the quarterback as soon as possible.

“I got into it with him in college,” Finebaum said of Mayfield, via Elizabeth Karpen of the New York Post. “He came after me on Twitter. And I thought he was a punk then and nothing has changed. He is a poor man’s Johnny Manziel.

“I think Cleveland ought to get rid of him. I don’t know if it’s possible, but I think the Browns are wasting their time with this guy.”

The Manziel comparison stings a bit. Manziel and Mayfield were compared a lot coming out of college, and Mayfield fervently objected to those comparisons. To be fair, Mayfield has not faced anywhere near the same sort of off-field trouble Manziel did, and has been more successful on the field than Manziel. Still, Browns quarterbacks are going to face comparisons like that.

Mayfield is always confident and willing to take on the media, as he showed recently. When things are going well, it’s a great look, but when Mayfield struggles as he did in 2021, it can look quite arrogant and makes him an easy target for detractors. Finebaum certainly sees it the latter way.