Baker Mayfield's comments about Daniel Jones set off a social media firestorm Tuesday when the Cleveland Browns quarterback appeared to question the New York Giants drafting the quarterback No. 6 overall -- as many did at the time.
On Wednesday, Mayfield clarified his comments from the GQ article and said he texted Jones.
"That interview was done back in April, I think right after the draft," Mayfield said during a presser. "Just things taken out of context. That's the problem with today's day and age. You don't read the whole thing, you don't put two and two together. You just kinda read scripts. People, they combine sentences from different conversations. So it seemed very disrespectful and I can understand that. What people didn't realize the conversation entailed of me saying that I was surprised I was drafted No. 1 overall, too. And then me going on a rant after that about QB evaluation and the frustration from the recruiting processes and stuff that I've, it's very well-documented, my thoughts on all of that. It had nothing to do specifically about Daniel, about the winning and stuff. I reached out to Daniel because all that blew out, way out of hand. And I wanted him to know how I felt and I've heard nothing but great things from Saquon (Barkley) and Sterling Shepard, guys that have a lot of respect for him and that I respect their opinions. Just wanted to clear the air with him."
In the GQ article, Mayfield said it "blows my mind" that the Giants drafted Jones so high. In the original story, a transition paragraph then turns the conversation toward QB evaluation in general. In most social media posts, however, the transition was lost, expounding the notion that Mayfield was personally bashing Jones.
"Once it came out, I was like, 'Wow.' I completely forgot that we even had that conversation back in April," the Browns QB said Wednesday. "I was pretty confused about it, to be honest with you, because that wasn't what the conversation was about."
Mayfield said Jones responded to his text saying, "No worries."
"To me that came back on my character," Mayfield said of how the comment was received by the public. "That's one thing that, I don't care about a lot of opinions of if you like me or not, but that looked like my character was way out of line, so that's the only reason I addressed it."
"That's the type of thing that frustrates me because it was taken out of context and on top of that now we're talking about something that's not about the Browns. To me, that's the biggest thing," the 24-year-old said.
Week 1 can't get here soon enough.
