The Cleveland Browns chose to give up on Baker Mayfield.
They traded for Deshaun Watson while Mayfield was still on the team, and that may have been the beginning of the organization’s recent downturn.
Fast forward to today, and Watson has been one of the biggest headaches in professional sports, and that trade with the Houston Texans is among the worst in sports history.
Mayfield, on the other hand, is playing the best football of his career and looks like a legitimate MVP candidate with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
The No. 1 overall pick from the 2018 NFL Draft recently shared his assessment of Cleveland’s current situation.
“It’s tough to not pay attention to it, just because there’s still people there that are genuine friends and were there for instrumental years of my life. Checking in every once in a while with people, but after that, I got priorities here in Tampa. I don’t really check in, I kind of know what’s going on,” Mayfield said.
🔥 The Browns Struggles. Developing QBs. Baker's Honest Reflection
"That's in a midst of a struggle, you can tell. That game probably didn't go very well. I don't really check in, I kind of know what's going on" https://t.co/DhS45fbA7e pic.twitter.com/bPRSaV0JWv
— JaKi 🇺🇸 (@JaKiTruth) October 28, 2025
Of course, Mayfield wasn’t as good during his time in Cleveland.
He had multiple games when it seemed like he was the one holding the team back.
Then again, given the Browns’ struggles to get anything out of any other quarterback, perhaps he wasn’t the problem.
Even though he wasn’t living up to the hype, he still helped Cleveland reach the playoffs, despite learning under multiple offensive coordinators.
Perhaps both Mayfield and the Browns are to blame for how things ended.
He didn’t handle himself properly and rubbed plenty of people the wrong way, but the organization did not help him reach his full potential.
Whatever the case, that infamous trade to acquire Watson is the root of all the issues the Browns are dealing with right now.
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