Browns' Baker Mayfield not done criticizing Hue Jackson

After the Cleveland Browns and Baker Mayfield beat the Cincinnati Bengals on the road on Sunday, the Bengals’ newest assistant coach, Hue Jackson, sought out Mayfield at midfield.

But Mayfield wasn’t really feeling a reunion with Jackson, who just a few weeks earlier was his head coach in Cleveland.

He told reporters after the game essentially that he felt betrayed by Jackson for going to a division rival.

“It’s just somebody that was in our locker room, asking for us to play for him and then goes to a different team we play twice a year. Everybody can have their spin on it, but that’s how I feel,” Mayfield said.

And come Monday, he wasn’t done being bothered.

‘Good try though buddy’

Cleveland quarterback Baker Mayfield isn’t ready to move past his issues with former Browns coach Hue Jackson. (AP)
Cleveland quarterback Baker Mayfield isn’t ready to move past his issues with former Browns coach Hue Jackson. (AP)

On ESPN’s “First Take,” former NFL offensive lineman Damien Woody said Mayfield needs to “grow up. This is grown football. You’re dealing with grown men.”

In large part, Woody has a point. Jackson was fired by Cleveland, this wasn’t a Doug Marrone-leaving-Buffalo situation. When an employee is fired, he’s generally free to find employment wherever he chooses.

Playing devil’s advocate, coaching contracts are guaranteed in the NFL, so Jackson was still going to be paid by the Browns whether he went to another team or not, and money, in theory, wasn’t really a factor.

Since Lewis became head coach in Cincinnati in 2003, he’s had Jackson on his staff twice previously, in four different roles, over seven seasons.

And Woody noted that Mayfield did something similar in college. He enrolled at Texas Tech in 2013, started as a true freshman after the expected starter suffered an injury, but then got hurt and said there was no communication between himself and the coaching staff while he was hurt.

So he transferred to another Big 12 school: Oklahoma.

But when “First Take” posted the clip on Instagram, numerous people tagged Mayfield, and he couldn’t help but respond:

(First Take/Instagram)
(First Take/Instagram)

In his comment, Mayfield said his transfer situation and Jackson’s situation are “not even comparable.”

“I didn’t lose 30+ games be fake and then do that,” he wrote, presumably referencing Jackson.

Woody fires back

Woody, of course, fired back to “Baker and all his fanboys.”

“Hue Jackson was fired. Get it? Unemployed. Fired. No job. If that man wanted to go work for the Cincinnati Bengals, who the hell are you to try to dictate where that man should work?,” Woody said. “Y’all won the game yesterday. You won the game. So why are you concerned with where Hue Jackson is working at? That’s why I said: Grow up.”

No response from Mayfield as of yet.

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