Baker Mayfield's wife explains sharing IG post critical of Browns players
Sunday was not Baker Mayfield's best day.
The Cleveland Browns picked up a win. But just barely against the league's only winless team starting Tim Boyle at quarterback. Mayfield struggled — again — in a two-interception effort against the Detroit Lions that triggered boos from the home fans and frustrated the Browns quarterback to the point of skipping his postgame media session.
Then his wife Emily shared an Instagram post questioning the toughness of Mayfield's teammates.
"No one better say anything bad about @bakermayfield after this game," the post from a Browns fan read. "I don’t think I have seen toughness like this in a while. Maybe the rest of our team should take the hint and get tougher."
That is what's called in the business adding fuel to the fire.
Emily Mayfield explains IG story share
After Emily's social media share made headlines, she explained her decision on Twitter Monday night. She wrote that she meant to celebrate the part of the post lauding Baker's toughness and overlooked the part criticizing his teammates.
"They are ALL beyond tough... & ALL have my support," Emily wrote.
I repost MANY stories that fans tag me in. I saw 1 pic/post as a salute to Bake’s toughness/grit.
I DID NOT SEE where it said the rest of the team should “take a hint and get tougher”.
It came to my attention & I deleted it.
They are ALL beyond tough… & ALL have my support.— Emily (Wilkinson) Mayfield (@emilywmayfield6) November 23, 2021
To be fair, her explanation is reasonable. She did share several posts from Browns fans on her Instagram story Sunday as she regularly does. And it was removed shortly after it started to gain traction on social media Sunday evening.
#Browns QB Baker Mayfield’s wife on Instagram: pic.twitter.com/zaFTI9R6rp
— Brad Stainbrook (@BrownsByBrad) November 21, 2021
While drawing attention to the post a day later stirs things up again, it's also understandable that she'd want to make a public statement of support for Baker's teammates — especially considering the mess that Odell Beckham Jr's dad made on social media prior to his midseason exit from the team.
Whether or not she actually intended to take a jab at Baker's teammates is the least of the Browns' problems right now. Their 6-5 record wouldn't be good enough to make the playoffs this week. What they really need is a win — or two — with back-to-back games against the AFC North-leading Baltimore Ravens looming.