Baker Mayfield reaches out to Daniel Jones, says that wasn't the whole conversation
Baker Mayfield is spending his week on the defensive after his “blows my mind” comment blew everyone else’s mind.
The Cleveland Browns quarterback, after blaming the situation on the media, is going the direct route to his target, the New York Giants’ Daniel Jones.
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Mayfield reaches out to Jones
Mayfield said he reached out to Jones to talk about the comments made to GQ for a feature published Tuesday. He told the reporter he couldn’t believe the Giants drafted Jones at No. 6 overall.
He texted with Jones about the situation, according to ESPN, and Jones “took the conversation well.” He told reporters the situation “blew way out of hand” and he wanted Jones to know how he felt.
Jones wasn’t fazed by the remarks and shouldered the responsibility of Duke’s record under his leadership.
Mayfield: ‘Taken out of context’
Mayfield addressed the issue at training camp on Wednesday and said the interview was from April. GQ’s Clay Skipper set up the quotes by writing a “SportsCenter” segment caught Mayfield’s eye and the discussion about Jones was initiated.
"All that blew way out of hand."
Baker Mayfield reached out to Giants QB Daniel Jones to clear the air after comments to GQ he says were taken out of context. #BrownsCamp pic.twitter.com/bidK486GiB— SportsTime Ohio (@SportsTimeOhio) August 21, 2019
“[It’s] just things taken out of context and that’s the problem with today’s day and age. You don’t read the whole thing, you don’t put two and two together, you just read scripts and then people combine sentences from different conversations and so it seemed very disrespectful. And I can understand that.”
Mayfield said people didn’t realize the conversation involved his surprise at going No. 1 and his rant about quarterback evaluations. He said he addressed the frenzy over his remarks because he felt it attacked his character.
How this could have gone
As Giants head coach Pat Shurmur told media Tuesday, this isn’t new commentary. It has been said the second boos started ringing out at the draft when Jones’ named was called.
Mayfield said both on Instagram and in his news conference his comments were “taken out of context” by GQ.
“I was pretty confused about it because that wasn’t what the conversation was,” Mayfield said in answer to a question on Wednesday.
He did say the direct quotes were said by him. And Skipper set up the background both with how the conversation started and his own remark to the quarterback, though certainly not to the extent Mayfield explained.
Skipper wrote he is “mystified that so many supposedly expert quarterback scouts seem unable to predict what makes a good NFL quarterback.” He goes on to write that Mayfield is “reflecting on his own history.”
Mayfield, admittedly, said what he said. All he had to do if he felt it necessary was clarify specifically why it blew his mind and what “expert quarterback scouts” overthink. Easy enough.
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