Getty Image / Nick Cammett
Baker Mayfield got into it with reporter Tony Grossi on Wednesday during the quarterback’s weekly press conference and it turns out there’s some history between the two and the tension finally hit an all-time high.
The two have butt heads in the past so to speak, so Mayfield’s attitude wasn’t only due to the fact that he is having a sub-par season and the Browns sit at just 5-2 on the year.
According to Pro Football Talk, Grossi believes that it all stems back to before Mayfield was even drafted and comes back to the fact that he had pegged Sam Darnold, Josh Allen and Josh Rosen as the top quarterbacks in the 2018 draft class.
“I think it goes back to the pre-draft conversations we had, things I said, things I wrote. OK, fine, but you have to move along.”
Grossi also labeled Mayfield as spoiled after suggesting that he, allegedly, requested first-class airfare and accommodations for his pre-draft visits which surely didn’t sit well with Mayfield regardless of whether that’s the truth or not.
At the end of the day, neither Mayfield or Grossi did anything wrong. Mayfield may have come across to some as pissed off and rude, but that’s totally fair. On the opposite side, Grossi was simply doing his job.
“I didn’t want to be in a confrontation with the quarterback of the Cleveland Browns, but he had been disrespectful so many times in the last couple weeks in response to simple questions by me.
I tried to talk to him twice, alone, but he just wants no part of that. If he’s not going to do that I have to do my job as best as I can.”
Following the conflict Mayfield essentially doubled down on Twitter mentioning ‘my urgency is at an all time high. and if I offend anybody along the way…that’s too bad.’
The entire thing is getting blown out of proportion due to the fact that Cleveland is 2-5 and Mayfield has been poor since Week 1. If the Browns were 5-2, this sort of thing likely doesn’t happen, but that’s the way the NFL and the media work.
It makes sense that Mayfield blew up on Grossi. It makes sense that Grossi didn’t sit back like a scared little boy and take criticism from the former No. 1 overall pick that makes millions of dollars per year; nobody is at fault here.
It’ll be interesting to see how Mayfield and Grossi get along the rest of the season, especially if the Browns fall to the terrible Broncos on Sunday.
[NYP]