The Cleveland Browns have maintained throughout the entire offseason that Tyrod Taylor is going to be their starting quarterback in Week 1, but the discussion surrounding the team’s QB situation reached a new level of insanity on Monday morning.
In his weekly column for NBC Sports, Peter King published a quote from Todd Haley that indicated the Browns’ offensive coordinator is in favor of rookie Baker Mayfield starting. King later retracted the quote, noting that he was duped by a joke Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio made last week.
Good morning. My Monday column is up.
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Removing a note about a Todd Haley quote from Hard Knocks Tuesday. The quote never happened. That’s my error. My apologies. https://t.co/qMbWHCefDz— Peter King (@peter_king) August 13, 2018
Yeah, well, that’s my fault. It was used the other day @ProFootballTalk as a joke, and I’m the only one who didn’t get the joke. https://t.co/yZAHiYYNnS
— Peter King (@peter_king) August 13, 2018
It would appear the quote stemmed from this joke, which was made during Mayfield’s impressive preseason debut against the New York Giants on Thursday night:
On the next episode of Hard Knocks, Todd Haley looks right into the camera and says, "It's not my idea to keep Baker Mayfield on the bench."
— ProFootballTalk (@ProFootballTalk) August 10, 2018
Mayfield completed 11-of-20 passes for 212 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions in a 20-10 win over the Giants. Fans were understandably excited, but the Browns were quick to shut down any talk of him supplanting Taylor in the next few weeks.
While King made an honest mistake and owned up to it, that didn’t stop Twitter from having fun at his expense:
— Glen Fannin (@monkey2Ybanana) August 13, 2018
— Kristy In Cleveland (@Kristy_CLE) August 13, 2018
Can you explain? pic.twitter.com/HbNPGXXvVC
— Wren (@wrenwag) August 13, 2018
— Aaron (@OrrWut) August 13, 2018
— Mike (@Irritated_Bowel) August 13, 2018
You didn't get the joke? pic.twitter.com/tmNhDytLdN
— Royale w/ Cheese (@bubbalame) August 13, 2018
In case you need further evidence that the Browns are committed to Taylor, Aditi Kinkhabwala of NFL Network reported on Monday that the entire Cleveland coaching staff believes Taylor is the right man for the job in 2018.
We have already seen plenty of drama on this year’s installment of “Hard Knocks,” and King surely wishes he hadn’t added to it in this fashion.
