“You can’t play the victim" - NFL great tells Baker Mayfield to stop blame game and focus on 2022 season
The drama surrounding Cleveland Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield continues unabated. With Deshaun Watson now the planned starter for the upcoming 2022 NFL season, Baker publicly expressed his feelings about the entire situation. In fact, it’s Mayfield’s combatant personality that's partially to blame for his lack of takers in a trade.
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NFL Hall of Famer and analyst Steve Young knows a thing or two about being a successful quarterback in the league and recently appeared on the Rich Eisen Show to give his take on Mayfield’s woes.
“You can’t play the victim. Victimization has to be put in a bottle and buried in the ground and deep because it’s too easy to play the victim."
He went on:
"There are a lot of things out of your control and a lot of things you’ve done wrong. You cannot, in the NFL, survive and play the victim. You have to now leave it behind and own every bit of it."
He concluded by saying:
"Own it. Own every mistake you’ve ever made. Own how you got here. Don’t blame other people. You got yourself here.”
Some have accused the former number-one-pick of being entitled. That instead of consistently earning and deserving his spot with the Browns, the quarterback seems to feel it’s his no matter what the case.
The NFL is a business above all else and most players understand this. A franchise needs to win games and the Cleveland Browns have a long history of failing to do so at the expense of their fanbase. Going after a quarterback of Deshaun Watson’s talents is purely a business move.
Baker Mayfield needs to prove himself at training camp
The unhappy quarterback will have to attend training camp and things will doubtless be awkward. He will have to show up and prove to the Browns and the the NFL that he has the mettle to tackle adversity. If he can trust himself when all men doubt him, if he can wait and not be tired by waiting, there's still a chance that he could reclaim his starting role. All it would take is a Deshaun Watson suspension or injury.
Though he has been somewhat quiet as of late, the damage may have already been done. NFL teams have little patience for diva-like behavior unless the stats outweigh the aggravation. Players like Antonio Brown may still be highly sought after even after a string of incidents, but whether Mayfield is worth the hassle remains to be seen.